New Choices
by these dreams go on
Summary: Sequel to New Paths and New Lives. Caroline celebrates the winter break by heading to New Orleans to holiday with Klaus, completely unaware that enemies up and down the east coast are moving against everyone she loves.
1. Caroline

A/N- Here we go everyone, the sequel I've been promising for a while and waited until the last possible moment to start delivering on- whilst writing several chapters of another story that I won't publish for a while.  
For those of you following Moving In- there's quite a few more chapters to go there but there won't be any spoilers here that I didn't already throw into the epilogue of New Paths (read it again, hint: red)  
For those of you following Darkness to Half-Light- STOP, there will never be any more chapters there, it is complete as it will ever be. I'm sorry but that is all there is to it, favourite but don't follow please you make me feel so guilty.  
Anyhow, I own nothing associated with Vampire Diaries or the Originals.  
Please enjoy.

* * *

'WINTER IS COMING!'

Caroline rolled her eyes at the ridiculous poster hanging in the stairwell of her dorm building as she finishes the trek from across campus to her room. Pulling her cardigan tighter over her chest as it once again slips down and exposes her bare shoulder, she steps away from the well-lit path to cut across the grass that turns silver in the twilight.

She'd had her last tutorial of the semester, half the class hadn't decided to show up so the lecturer had reconvened the students to one of the quieter cafes on campus. She and ten other students had sat around on old leather couches, drunk coffee with their professor and casually discussed the influence of society and world politics had on the performance of Shakespearean plays.

All she'd needed was a beret and it would have been a dream come true.

She'd felt so mature, so grown-up in that café.

But now, she was stepping into the fourth floor of her dorm building, where she, Elena and Bonnie had the best room and remembered that she was only nineteen.

The overhead lights cast a golden glow along the wooden floors and plastered walls. The darkening twilight outside gave the hallway an even warmer feel.

Dozens of students occupied the hall, chatting and laughing, making their way back from the showers, holding dinner plates in their hands- or more commonly alcohol.

Caroline smiled and greeted the people she knew, stepping over the legs of the people propped up on the floor. So many humans in such a small space filled the area with heat and the scent of life, the scent of blood and reminded her that she hadn't fed since last night.

So she feels a small sense of relief when she sees her dorm room up ahead, the door decorated with a poster that she herself had designed and been complimented on many times,

_Bonnie, Caroline, Elena  
_  
Below it was a whiteboard and marker for people to leave them messages, she checked as she slid her key into the lock and saw Stefan's messy handwriting,

"_True Friends Stab You In the Front- Damon says Hi!" _

She laughed and stepped into the dorm room, glancing around and making sure nothing supernatural was standing out before leaving the door open and dropping her books on her bed.

She falls onto her bed with a loud sigh and simply enjoys the moment.

She'd made it.

They'd made it.

One successful semester at Whitmore College.

Who would have thought?

Certainly nobody who knew their backstory.

Death, destruction, torture- both physical and psychological, and the frequent threat of supernatural apocalypse hadn't been the healthiest setting for them.

Some of them had barely managed to graduate high school considering all the days they'd had to miss or all the times they'd had to redo their homework because the papers had been blood stained.

Yet when summer had turned to fall, and they had gone a few months without people trying to kill them, they had breathed a sigh of relief and properly considered the option of enrolling at university.

They could have gone to any university they wanted in the world but Whitmore had made top of the list, beating the Ivy League colleges with its proximity to Mystic Falls.

After all, Jeremy Gilbert still had a year of high school to finish and Damon had volunteered to stay behind and make sure both Elena's brother and the town made it through the next twelve months.

So they'd packed their suitcases, thrown them into their various cars and taken the two hour drive up to the campus where Caroline had compelled the girls the best dorm room available. She'd even found a single room with ensuite for Stefan but he'd decided to switch out for a regular two room, having never shared before.

And now, after endless essays, exams, project deadlines, in-class tests and group presentations, the winter break had finally come to Whitmore College.

* * *

It was six o'clock on a chilly, dark evening and the mood around campus was a mixture of utter exhaustion and elation at the upcoming holidays. Staff and students alike were preparing to abandon the campus in a mass exodus, eager to get back to their hometowns as soon as humanly possible.

Caroline however wasn't heading home for this break.

Instead, she was driving down to New Orleans, where Klaus Mikaelson- the Original Hybrid- ruled over the French Quarter and was waiting for her.

She exhaled and thought on that.

She had made the promise to visit him last summer after she'd finally given into her desires and made love to him, he'd had to return to his kingdom but hadn't wanted to leave her so this had been their compromise.

It was strange but the thought of living with a guy for two weeks, sleeping in the same bed, eating meals with him seemed so grown up it freaked her out.

She was going to see Klaus Mikaelson and the thought of sharing a bathroom freaked her out more than the thought of throwing herself into a kingdom of vampires, witches, werewolves and Katherine Pierce.

Shaking her head and looking down at the suitcase sitting open on her armchair, Caroline wondered for the umpteenth time whether or not she should pack a ball gown.

It had actually been a rude awakening for the Mystic Falls girls to leave their small town and discover that the rest of the world didn't host weekly formal dinners, masquerade balls, fancy picnics or charity balls.

Of course they were in a university town so they had parties from Thursday to Sunday but these were the kind of parties where short dresses was the suggested attire, not full length gowns accessorised with family jewellery.

So Caroline, Bonnie and Elena had packed up their gowns- which had only been gathering dust in their closets and shipped them home a month into semester.

And of course, Caroline hadn't even considered needing a ball gown until she'd begun packing, but now that she thought about it, it seemed more and more likely that she'd be attending an event in the not too distant future where she'd have to wear one.

So it looked like she'd have to stop off at home tomorrow after all.

Great.

To say her mom had been unhappy when news of her winter plans had reached her would be a colossal understatement.

It had been one prolonged shouting match that had begun in person in Mystic Falls when Caroline had gone home for Sunday lunch and continued via calls, email and text until she had turned her phone off and refused to speak to her mother until she calmed down.

Another three days and they'd met up for lunch while Caroline had explained that she wanted to go to New Orleans and see Klaus on her own volition, she wasn't compelled or blackmailed.

She had complete control of the situation, she had been the one to suggest when she would visit and he wouldn't and couldn't pressure her into any emotional or physical commitments.

She had then sat quietly and listened while her mom listed every single bad thing Klaus had done since the day he'd stormed into their lives in Mystic Falls and afterward had just said,

"I know mom, believe me I _know_ and I won't forget no matter how much I want to but…I can't ignore that he is trying to change. His father beat and tortured him his whole life, his mother cursed him and he felt that could never trust his siblings. He spent one thousand years being chased by Mikael and unable to break his curse. That would turn anyone into a monster and he never had to but he's trying to become a good person and I have to figure out what it is I feel for him because denying that I feel anything at all for him just hurts me and those I love"

Her mother hadn't been convinced and they'd reached a stalemate before eventually deciding not to discuss the matter further with each hoping the other person would come to their senses.

Caroline had been planning to set off early tomorrow, arrive in New Orleans as soon as possible at which point her mom would have to accept the fact that she was spending her holidays with Klaus.

Maybe she could just risk it, turn up in NOLA and if there was a ball, Klaus could buy her another ball gown.

No, that wouldn't be fair. Not that he would mind, hell he'd probably jump at the chance to buy clothes for her, jewellery too, but if her elective in Gender Studies had taught her anything this semester it was that she would never be content to be a man's trophy girlfriend.

The next diamond bracelet she owned she was going to buy herself dammit.

This was not getting her toiletries packed.

* * *

She pulls herself to her feet just as the bedroom door flies open and Elena bursts in, kicking the door closed behind her and jumping across the room, landing on her bed with enough force to make it slam into the wall and the wooden slats creak in protest.

Stefan arrives seconds later, breathless and pushing his way through the door, "Elena, I swear to God I will break up with you!"

Caroline snorts and sees the bundle of cans in Elena's arms, it looks like her best friend has got into the energy drinks again.

If there is only one piece of knowledge that the Mystic Falls coven has attained this semester it is that Elena Gilbert has a shockingly low tolerance for energy drinks matched only by her quickset addiction to them.

"I call your bluff" the spritely brunette teases as she cracks her first can and starts sculling, dancing off the bed as Stefan lunges for her and jumping clear across the room to perch on the top of the bookshelf, balancing on tiptoe, bringing to mind a ballerina.

Stefan eyes the bookshelf, clearly contemplating tackling her down to the floor as Elena tosses a now empty can at his head and starts on her second drink.

Caroline is laughing at the scene when she hears a loud throat-clearing, Bonnie is hurriedly closing the door and pointedly locking it before hurrying to the window and drawing the curtains closed.

"Have you all completely lost your minds?!" she demands angrily, "Anyone could have seen you!"

The three vampires belatedly remember that they aren't in the Salvatore Boarding House but in their dormitory at Whitmore where gravity-defying movements were worthy of notice.

Stefan grimaces and holds out his arms for Elena who drops down, wrapping her legs around his waist and looking over his shoulder to their friend,

"We're sorry Bonnie, we got carried away, end of semester and all. Plus Damon's driving down tomorrow and…"

Caroline suddenly takes avid interest in checking her suitcase, making sure everything is packed as neatly as possible and picking up a few things just to put them back down again so she can at least pretend she is busy. But while she might be physically idle her brain is repeating the same mantra at a million miles an hour,

_'Please don't get into this argument again. Please don't get into this argument again. Please…'_

Six months ago, in the midst of the Silas debacle, Elena had decided that she was sick of choosing between the two Salvatore brothers and offered them an alternative.

Polygamy.

Damon and Stefan had both accepted and the three of them had formed a new relationship where the brothers shared Elena.

The three of them hadn't announced this to the world, or even their friends but eventually the rest of the gang had figured it out.

Jeremy had been bewildered and Elena had sat him down and explained that this was a relationship of her choosing.

Caroline had done her best to reserve judgement, much like Matt, she wanted Elena to be happy and after climbing into bed with Klaus she was hardly in the position to be throwing stones.

Although she was curious about the logistics- how'd they handle jealousy issues? What happened when they went on dates? How did the pda's work?

Still, by far the biggest opponent to the relationship had been Bonnie, she didn't consider this polygamy to be Elena's decision but a selfish move on the  
Salvatore's part, a way for them to handle the fractures in their relationship by turning Elena into a toy they could both share, a removal of her personhood and objectification of the worst degree.

Bonnie and Elena had argued about this a few times already, going around in circles- sometimes literally- in their bedroom while Caroline sat on her bed and tried to mediate.

Occasionally Stefan would try to soothe the situation over but with his guilt complex and easily activated self-loathing, Bonnie's words would send him into a spiral of depression that turned him into a hermit or risked driving him to turn off his humanity and then Elena would be making an emergency call to Damon who'd come roaring up to Whitmore and the three of them would take refuge in a hotel room for a night and emerge the next morning with their devotion to one another reaffirmed.

Caroline hated those nights, because when Bonnie realised where Elena was she got all worked up and then took her frustration out on her for her longstanding plans for winter break and the fact that she and Klaus were in frequent contact.

Nothing too intense or committed, just casual texts to one another, keeping in touch, flirting, comparing wild nights which he typically won through virtue of long experience and wilder imagination.

She'd been the one to text first, it had been the morning after her first college one night stand, she'd been doing the walk-of-shame back to her room, disappointed by the lacklustre sex and impulsively sent a message to Klaus asking how he was enjoying life in New Orleans.

He replied with a photo of Bourbon St looking worse for wear, coloured streamers strewn across the road, smashed bottles and decorations limply hanging on to the walls and lampposts,

_'Festival last night'_ he'd written, _'Lost a drinking competition against a priest'_

She'd laughed at that and with the easy, friendly mood established they had begun their every-other-day, few times a week texts to one another.

So Caroline is hunched over her suitcase, praying that Bonnie's disappointment or wrath won't land on her, Elena is easing her way down Stefan's body, landing on her feet but keeping a firm grip on the collar of his shirt whilst he pretends to be fascinated by the pink streak in his girlfriend's hair.

But their luck is with them tonight because Bonnie just sighs, "Right, well I have somewhere I have to be so I'll see you guys back in Mystic Falls"

She grabs her gym bag and holds her keys in one hand before giving them a brisk wave and backing out the door, the vampires waiting until her footsteps were out of their advanced earshot before letting their shoulders sag in relief and almost instantly feeling guilty about it.

After all, Bonnie was their best friend and she was dating Elena's brother, a small difference of opinion shouldn't get between them.

Still...

* * *

"All packed?" Elena asked loudly, the caffeine clearly hitting her as she bounced over and sat cross-legged on Caroline's bed,

"Got everything? Every little thing? All the knick knacks and….mfff!"

Stefan placed his hand over Elena's mouth and straddled her from behind, "I can ship something to you when we get home tomorrow" he offered and Caroline grinned,

"Thanks…I'm thinking I might need a ball gown but I'm not sure which one to take…the blue, the green or the gold?"

"The green" he announces decisively, "Because you wore the blue one to the last Mikaelson ball and I was planning to borrow the gold one for whatever Founding event they manage to scrape together without you and you should pair it with the pink shoes because I've already tried them on and they don't fit me"

Caroline laughed as Elena rolled her eyes lovingly.

Now that someone new wasn't trying to kill them each week, Stefan had lightened considerably and found a sense of humour that the girls hadn't realised he possessed.

"Right" she grabbed her toiletries bag from the bathroom, "Well…I think that's everything so…"

There was a knock on the door and Elena wrestled out of Stefan's grip so she could go to answer it, pulling it open with a big smile,

"Oh…" she faltered but then recovered, "Hey Jesse!"

Caroline winced, she'd been hoping to get away clean for the semester break and had been avoiding any and all potential love interests for the last week.

Jesse was a third year biology student who'd invited Caroline and Elena to a frat party in their first week, they'd hooked up at a bonfire night and been friends-with-benefits ever since. Unfortunately she'd come back to her dorm a few times to find him waiting, making pleasant conversation with Bonnie and figured out pretty quickly that he was way more interested in her than she was in him.

That wasn't to say that she didn't like him, he was hot and she enjoyed the sex and the maturity of the casual hook-up but it felt weird to commit to something more when she had Klaus waiting in New Orleans.

Not that she thought for one second that he was being abstinent during the semester, hell he was probably having more sex than all the freshmen combined but she wasn't about to set foot in the French Quarter to find him with a girlfriend and she could hardly have a boyfriend and then head off to spend her holiday with another guy.

So she winced but came to the door, "Hey Jesse…I heard they've got jello shots in the common room, want to grab some?"

He grinned and shifted back, allowing Caroline to step into the hallway where she almost immediately tripped over two guys sharing a bottle of vodka. Jesse caught her arm to steady her and she thanked him brightly, pretending not to notice as she moved forward quickly enough to break his hold.

"So" she looked over her shoulder, "Any plans for the break?"

He shrugged, "Nah…just heading home to Jackson…see my folks and family, but you're headed to New Orleans right?"

Caroline tensed and, out of habit, her brain went into panic mode before figuring out that Elena or Bonnie had likely mentioned it to him. But this was the perfect opportunity,

"Yeah, actually I'm meeting a guy there, he lives in the French Quarter and invited me to spend a few weeks with him"

"Oh" Jesse mumbled, "Uh…is he a student here or…?"

"No, we met in back Mystic Falls, he's an artist"

And a King, Dictator, General, Revolutionary and Father but that would require far too much explanation.

"So…are you and he…?"

"We aren't exclusive, we haven't even…" she breaks off because Jesse doesn't need the gory details of her and Klaus' up in air relationship.

"We've been taking things slow"

Which was technically true, they'd had one day of mind-blowing sex and then barely a kiss before he'd headed home and she'd returned her focus to Silas and his desire to destroy the remaining shreds of happiness in Mystic Falls.

"Uh…okay" Jesse scratched the back of his head as they found the common room and Caroline grabbed them two bright red shots,

"So…does this mean I'm completely out of the running or…"

Great. The one time there wasn't loud music blaring in the typically alcohol soaked room and Jesse decided he wanted to define their relationship.

Caroline threw back the shot and ran her tongue along the plastic to pick up any leftovers, she wondered if maybe she couldn't grab another two or twenty before having this conversation but a line was starting to form and Jesse was waiting patiently and she hated when she was left hanging…

Seriously, she needed to get this over and done with so she could get started on her holiday without feeling any guilt.

She led Jesse out to the stairwell which was typically quiet this time of night due to the cold draughts and bad lighting. She leant against the wall beside one of the windows that looked out onto the green.

"Honestly Jesse," she began, crushing the plastic in her hands and letting it reform a shape only to crush and twist it another way,

"I don't exactly know _what's_ going to happen over the break, I may come back single and we can go back to what we had before or try something new or I might come back in a relationship, but you shouldn't wait around for me in either case because it wouldn't be fair"

There.

She'd said it.

Kind of.

Maybe?

Jesse grinned and stepped forward until he was pressed up against her. This was uncharacteristic of him and she blushed, lowering her gaze,

"What if I want to wait around for you Forbes?" he asked in a husky tone, "What if I think you're the kind of girl worth waiting around for?"

She turned her face away but he caught her chin in his fingers and brought her back up to stare into his eyes, he caught her with a hard kiss, wrapping his arms around her so that there was no space left between them. Caroline floundered, enjoying the sensation and used to making out with him but not wanting to lead him on, she pushed him away with her human strength and when that didn't work, added a little vampire strength to the mix,

"I _really_ like you Jesse" she told him as she tried to catch her breath, "But I know that your last girlfriend kept you waiting around for her and it's not fair of me to do that…I'm sorry…I'll uh, call you when we get back"

She moved around him and hurried back up the stairs and straight to her room, closing and locking the door behind her with a sigh of relief.

Elena was now sitting on her own bed, finishing off the last of her energy drink while Caroline's suitcase was now on the carpet and Stefan sitting in the armchair, unwillingly apparently because he was tied up with bras and old t-shirts and gagged with red lace panties that Caroline really hoped were Elena's.

Her friend raised her head, "You okay?"

She nodded, "Yep, all I need is to shower, double-check that I've packed everything and I'll be good to go"

"Well" her friend clambered off the bed and held out her arms, "If I don't see you tomorrow morning…"

Caroline stepped into her embrace and squeezed her tight, "I love you Care bear"

"I love you too Lei-Lei"

"Mhhhfff"

"Shut up Stefan" 

* * *

A/N- So there's the opening chapter, I was trying to go for a happy and carefree Stefan, although that's not exactly canon, read and review my lovelies.


	2. Elena

A/N- I own nothing, but thank-you for all the lovely reviews! They definitely help with my writing direction and style. 

* * *

Damon Salvatore pulled his Camaro into the student visitor parking at nine-thirty am exactly, he was barely out of his car before Elena was jumping into his arms, her strength causing him to stagger backwards and nearly loose his footing. He keeps them upright as she peppers his face with kisses,

"I've missed you so much" she tells him between kisses, "So, so, so, _so_ _much_!"

She had dressed this morning in a new purple wool dress and Caroline's beret which matched perfectly, hoping to appear mature and grown up.

That plan had failed at the very moment she'd squealed her excitement and raced across the concrete.

But Damon's arms tighten around her and he presses his lips against her hair, "I missed you too"

"_I_ missed not having people help me carry these bags," Stefan complained as he lugged two heavy suitcases out of the main entrance to their dorm,

"I've already done this once today"

"_Oh_" Elena, whose guilt was even more easily activated than Stefan's, drops out of Damon's arms,

"Sorry"

She bounds across the parking lot grabs her suitcase as Damon pops the trunk for them.

Over the last sixth months the three of them have developed the ability to anticipate each other's needs and can enact wordlessly, Damon's hand is held out for the suitcase the very second Stefan is within reach.

The two colour co-ordinated suitcases, part of a set that Caroline had insisted everyone buy for college, were placed side by side. At which point Stefan throws Damon into a headlock, the two of them wrestling as Elena plays with her phone, checking messages and barely noticing the scuffle.

By sheer luck, Stefan manages to get his brother immobile long enough to crow,

"My turn!" he attempts to kiss Damon on the cheek but finds himself being disarmed and thrown into the backseat of the Camaro,

"Oh look" Damon grins as he closes the passenger door, "Elena just won shotgun privileges for the holidays"

"Urgh" Stefan stretched out across the backseat, "Come on! Elena's legs are far too small to be riding shotgun"

"Her legs are prettier than yours" Damon counters, tossing his keys in the air once before turning on his heel and nearly running smack bang into the brunette in question who is standing before him with a puzzled look on her face,

"Where's Jeremy?" she asks confused and he blinks,

"Jeremy who?"

"Very funny Damon" she rolls her eyes as he ushers her into the car,

"Seriously though, why isn't he here? Bonnie will be here any minute and…she's not coming back with us is she?"

Damon grimaced as he settled into the driver's seat, he and Stefan had figured out pretty quickly that Bonnie Bennett would rather have her teeth pulled without anaesthetic than be in a confined space with the two brothers who she thought were abusing her best friend.

Unfortunately Elena could never comprehend the idea of anyone staying angry with her, especially when in this case, she hadn't acted with the intention of hurting them.

Damon wants to shield her from the pain of Bonnie's disapproval but unbeknownst to Elena, their secret was out in Mystic Falls, courtesy of Rudy Hopkins and he and Jeremy had been facing the censure of the small town for weeks now, including but not limited to, a visit from a prune faced social services agent who resented feminism, female liberation, considered Elena to be a modern day jezebel and had required exceptional levels of compulsion after she'd forged such fantasies of abuse that, had the papers been filed, Damon would have been facing twenty years in prison.

So Damon is admittedly bitter and that carries over into his speech,

"Did you _really_ think she was going to hop aboard the Salvatore express to Mystic Falls?"

"But…" she turned to look at Stefan who shrugged but stepped up to the task, "Bonnie will come around Elena, if we just give her time"

She huffed and fell back against her seat, "_Where_ is Jeremy, Damon?"

He sighed, "I told the little bastard that if he got an A on his English essay that he could drive up to meet Bonnie…it's not my fault" he added defensively,

"I thought it was a safe bet!"

It wasn't intentional but Elena was immediately distracted, "Jeremy's doing well in English?"

"Yep" Damon struggles to mask the pride in his voice, "Turns out not being murdered and resurrected every week does wonders for your school life, of course, having your X-Box confiscated doesn't hurt either"

Stefan stuck his head into the front of the car, "Why'd you confiscate the X-Box?"

Damon scowled, glaring at the red light they were coming up towards,

"You ever heard of High Stakes?"

Both of the passengers shook their head, "It was released earlier this year, a cartoon simulation where you hunt and kill Dracula and his groupies in Transylvania, after five minutes of watching Jeremy use a vampire as a bludgeon to beat another vampire to death I decided that little emo had way too many distractions in his life. So it went the way of most of my enemies, a watery grave in the Quarry"

Elena and Stefan barely managed to control their giggles, both knowing Jeremy would have bought that game purely to piss Damon off. Stefan settles back in his seat but Elena is giddy.

Jeremy got an A in school.

In her last year her grades were abysmal, she was _lucky_ to get a C in anything and skipped so often some of her teachers had honestly thought she'd dropped out.

But Jeremy was doing well _and _he was comfortable enough at the Salvatore Boarding house to tease Damon and not be afraid of being kicked out. He was treating it as his home.

* * *

Distracted for the rest of the trip, Elena fills Damon in on all the gossip and little details of college life that she had forgotten in their nightly calls to one another.

She and Stefan are exaggerating the sheer level of sexually transmitted infections roaming around the college dorms when Damon finally pulls into the driveway and orders them both to get out of his beautiful disease free car.

Elena laughs and carries her suitcase straight to the laundry to get started on the obscene amount of washing she had to do. Damon waited to make sure she was out of ear shot before leading Stefan to the parlour and pouring them both a double shot of bourbon,

"You know…" he began tersely,

"I could have _sworn_ we had a conversation about Elena backpacking around Europe these holidays…or was it Mexico…I definitely remember that she was supposed to cross a border"

Stefan sighed and took the drink as he fell onto the couch,

"I tried brother…the second you texted me I suggested everything I could but she refused to travel without you and at the moment, you come in a matched set with Jeremy, whom she thinks would benefit from the stability of a year where he _doesn't_ have to move houses or states"

Damon cursed and sculled his drink before pouring himself another one and sitting opposite his brother who watched him with concern,

"You want to tell me why you're suddenly desperate to have Elena and I out of your life?"

He grimaced, "Hopkins dissolved the last Council and tried to form a new one in secret, hoping that I wouldn't find out about it. He's not using Founding Family but victims of supernatural attacks, all raring to grab pitchforks and light bonfires and…Liz heard a rumour that he's building up a vervein stash, _god_ alone knows from where because I sure as hell am not distributing and I doubt Klaus allows anyone to run supplies out of Louisiana but Liz reckons he's stockpiling for a showdown"

Stefan paled, "And he knows the identity of every vampire in town"

Damon raised his eyebrows, "Which isn't too hard considering the pact Katherine drew up for us last year in which Klaus and Elijah drew a big red X across the map telling all supernatural creatures to steer clear"

Stefan frowns, "Alright…not the best situation to drop Elena into"

"And I'd really prefer Jeremy not be around vampire-hating trigger happy freaks," Damon adds, keeping his voice low as he hears Elena hum while pressing the buttons on the washer,

"His hunter side like to rear its ugly head _way_ too often"

"Hey," Stefan brightened, getting to his feet and taking both their glasses, "You know where we haven't been in a while?"

"The fuck outta Virginia?"

"No" Stefan spreads his arms out,

"The Gilbert lake house, we'll send Elena up today to get it ready, close up here, wait for Jeremy and follow her tomorrow"

Damon nodded, "Okay, you, me, Elena and little Gilbert out of town is good, what about Barbie and Donovan?"

Stefan shrugged, "Matt's human, they won't go after him and Caroline should be…" he checked his watch,

"If she's keeping to schedule she'll be somewhere along the North Carolina border by now, gunning it to New Orleans and to the heart of Klaus Capital. We'll just text her and ask her to let us know if she plans on coming back to town"

The elder Salvatore groans and runs his hands through his hair, "Okay, so that just leaves us to plan a vacation-evacuation with the hope that we don't let the murderous mayor figure out that we're on to his dastardly scheme"

He claps Stefan on the shoulder as he leaves the room, "Welcome home little brother"

Stefan sighed and rolled his shoulders.

Danger.

Intrigue.

Mayhem.

Still, he'd rather be here with his brother and Elena than anywhere else on earth.

* * *

"Okay!" Elena loaded the last shopping bag into the car, "I think that's everything we need…you and Stefan will be bringing up the alcohol right?"

Damon smirked, "Come on beautiful, when have you ever known me to travel without the bar?! Especially if I'm going to be dealing with Gilbert shenanigans all weekend"

She gasped in mock offense and he gasps in response, she whacks him on the arm, "You know what, you are more than welcome to stay here…alone, while Stefan, Jeremy, Matt and I have loads of fun without you"

Damon blinked frowning, feigning casualness, "Matt? Quarterback's coming?"

Elena smiled flirtatiously, leaning against the car and draping her arms around his neck, "Yes, I rang Matt today and he's got a five day holiday from the Grill to come up and hang out with us, well hang out with my family, you are _not_ invited"

Damon reached down and gripped her hips, bringing her close to him and doing the eye-trick he knew drove her crazy,

"Not invited huh? Well, maybe I'll just sneak in at night, when you're sound asleep in your red lace teddy and wake you up with a kiss, and a touch, and a…"

He picked her up and squeezed her ass, making her squeal and laugh, "Damon…no"

But she pulled him down for a passionate kiss, twisting her hands in his shirt, "I've missed you babe" she murmurs, "I've missed…_us_"

Us.

She'd missed the three of them being together, being whole.

She also missed the times when it was just her and Damon, she'd had a semester of nights and lazy afternoons in bed with Stefan and only a handful of moments with the elder brother.

She loved them both desperately but she was terrified that the inequality of her time shared between them would cause jealousy or troubles.

The last thing she would ever want is to hurt either brother ever again.

"Come up to the lake house with me" she begged with an adorable pout that he matched,

"Sorry baby, I have some stuff to deal with here but I'll drag everyone down tomorrow, I promise"

She moans but steals another kiss, "I'm going to be so lonely"

"One night baby" he slaps her ass and opens the door for her, "But wear my favourite teddy tomorrow night and I'll make it up to you I promise"

Elena beamed and kicked over the ignition, beeping the horn as she pulled out onto the street, she took the route out of town that led across the Wickery Bridge, her hands tightening on the wheel as she became hyper-aware for those torturous two minutes.

Then, it was open road and bright afternoon sunlight as she turned on the radio and wondered if, miles and miles away, Caroline was driving at that very second, thinking about her as well.

She wondered if Caroline knew what it was that had their family so worked up and worried.

Elena wasn't an idiot.

She was gullible, she liked to believe the best of people and that made her naïve, she wasn't as manipulative as Katherine or as smart as Damon but she was intuitive.

She knew when her men were terrified and trying to trick her into heading to safe grounds.

That was why she had invited Matt along as well, she'd seen the relief in Damon's eyes when she'd dropped that piece of information. Matt coming to the lake house meant Jeremy was definitely going to be there and hopefully Bonnie would come along as well.

Best that everyone they loved could be safe until they'd figured out the danger.

She wasn't too worried however, it had been so long since Silas that she'd been waiting breathlessly for a new threat to come along and now that it had, she was almost relieved, they'd fight it off as a family and carry on with their lives as they always had.

She caught a song she liked on the radio and began to sing along, noting with annoyance the buzzing in her car she couldn't quite figure out, making a mental note to ask Damon about it later.

She would have been much more concerned about the situation if she'd realised that it was a military grade tracking device.

* * *

A/N- So a couple more set up chapters but I promise the next Caroline chapter will be Klaroline smut.


	3. Katherine

A/N- So I know that many of you (possibly all) were hoping that this would be the chapter where Caroline and Klaus have sex on a couch in the Bourbon St mansion. Unfortunately I'm still building up the story.

* * *

New Orleans was beautiful in the early evening, when the sun had just finished setting and twilight lit the world in a soft glow.

Especially when you were sitting in the rooftop garden of a multi-million dollar mansion in a lounge chair that cost more than some people made in a year.

Still, Katerina Petrova was feeling wistful as she looked out over the neighbourhood with a barely touched sketchpad in her lap and a pencil resting in her fingers.

Both of which she had stolen from the Original Hybrid so when she hears the ever so familiar roar from downstairs she's not at all surprised.

"Katherine!"

She rolls her eyes and spends a heartfelt thanks to the long dead architect who so designed the enormous house that vampires couldn't rely on the pattern of one's airflow to locate them.

When Niklaus Mikaelson hollers bloody murder you typically either rushed to his side or ran like hell, but Katerina is feeling lazy so she settles for setting one gorgeously heeled shoe on the ground and considers the act of standing,

A few floors below her, the shouting continues,

"Elijah, where the _bloody hell_ is your concubine?"

Elijah Mikaelson doesn't shout, he doesn't holler or bellow but he can still raise his voice to make himself heard when he chooses,

"I haven't the slightest clue brother because as far as I'm aware I do not have a concubine"

Katerina smirks, she herself wouldn't choose this exact moment to debate relationship terminology but she does not have one thousand years' experience bickering with the temperamental King of New Orleans,

"Life-partner, girlfriend, master, whore- _whatever_ it is she's tricked you into calling her these days, where is she?"

The gentle wind rustles through her curls and the slight chill on her bare arms in the rapidly cooling night motivates her to get to her feet and saunter through the glass doors that led to the large apartment she and Elijah shared.

She hit the lights as she went, lighting up the kitchenette, sitting area and bedroom in a warm glow, she knew the brothers would hear the electricity and lazily contemplates whether or not to start running a bath while waiting for them to reach her.

Best not, she doesn't want to flood the ensuite again.

"Fiancée?" Elijah suggests with a prickly tone.

They're getting closer and Katerina hurries the last few steps, opening the bedroom door and stepping out onto the gallery as the two brothers appear on the second floor landing.

Two men whose similarities lay in their postures, their movements and behaved like twins with only one shared parent and no shared physical features between them.

"Hello handsome" Katerina calls down the stairs, knowing it will amuse Elijah and irritate Niklaus. "Looking for pain or pleasure?"

For all his angelic features Klaus can resemble a demon when he flashes up and stops a bare inch from her, fortunately she was a vampire herself for five hundred years and her safety has been assured for the last six months so she feels very little surprise or fear when he holds the penknife up between them.

"What's this I hear about a festival tomorrow night?" he demands and she widens her eyes innocently,

"Which one? The S&M extravaganza or the Bestiality circus fundraiser?"

"Katerina" Elijah chides, stopping on the last step, bracing himself on the railing, the landing is far too small an area to be making threats and enraging immortal creatures but Klaus is forbidden to cross the threshold of her sanctuary so they'll have to make do.

"Oh…you must mean the three day Food and Fashion festival that starts this weekend" she snaps her fingers, "You're _welcome_"

She slips past him and his brother, clattering down the stairs in her six inch heels, "Is dinner ready?"

Rendering Klaus speechless was almost as much fun as sex.

_Almost_.

"Welcome?!" he splutters, pushing his brother to the side,

"I did not give permission for this to take place! I found out through Kieran and the damn council of Machiavelli wannabes"

She smirked, if there was one thing Klaus disliked more than her messing with him it was the human faction in the city who had introduced themselves to the Original family by listing their demands for bribes and power, telling Klaus that he was allowed to live in the Quarter only on their forbearance.

The Mayor alone had survived the massacre and since then Father Kieran had been the main representative of the faction, having come from a family of hunters and understanding the power that the Originals held.

Unfortunately the new council the Mayor had built were either boot lickers or back stabbers, thankfully beneath their notice but Katerina wondered if Elijah might send her in to play with these pesky little humans before another 'boating accident' tragically wiped out the top brass again.

"I could have _sworn_ I left you a post-it note somewhere" Katerina pouted as she led the men through the hallway into the ground floor kitchen, she stared at the large fridge which held one finger painting, presumably placed there after Klaus had seen an ad or half a lesson on parenting.

"Nope…hmmm, did I send you a _text_?"

Klaus is gripping the penknife so tightly she wonders if he might crush it into fine dust.

Her gaze flickers to Elijah, he's leaning his shoulder against the doorjamb, his hands in his pockets, keeping an eye on the situation but unworried.

If he does not fear for her continued existence on this plane than she won't.

"Explain to me why exactly you are throwing festivals in my Quarter" Klaus demands through ground teeth and Katerina rolls her eyes, hoisting herself up onto a marble counter,

"Klaus, do you know how many times Caroline has been to NOLA? Zero. When she arrives…tomorrow I presume, this festival will highlight two of her favourite things, good food and great fashion. It will provide entertainment and give her something to focus on other than the fact that she just drove two days for a two week booty call"

The penknife lands in the cupboard a full meter away from her, a warning shot more than anything but enough for Elijah to come stand between them and raise an eyebrow at his younger brother,

"Thank-you Katherine for your thoughtfulness" he prompts Niklaus, slipping easily into the paternal role he has played dutifully for centuries, he receives a scowl in response.

Katerina and Klaus' relationship was not one of pleases and thank-you, rather it was one where communication was limited as much as possible, with messages typically relayed through Elijah.

A pointed finger raised in warning and then the younger Original was out the door, either in search of a meal, a neck to snap or a bar to deprive of top shelf liquor.

If he weren't so homicidal when he was nervous, his excitement at Caroline's impending arrival would almost be adorable.

* * *

Katerina says as much to Elijah who scoops her off the bench and carries her into the dining room where a pristine set of silver trays awaits, he sits her on the table,

"Tarator" he explains, lifting the lid of the silver bowl so she can see the cold, white soup.

"You mentioned that you've been feeling nostalgic"

That had been a throwaway comment when Elijah had wanted to know why she kept walking down to the river, she smiles at his obvious desire to please her.

"Are you hungry?" he asks, but the smell of the soup is making her nauseous so she wraps her leg around his thigh and draws him closer, cupping his face in her hands she quirks an eyebrow,

"Are you?"

He grins eagerly and lowers his head to feed from her neck, his tongue darting out and his lips kissing his favourite vein before his fangs sank in.

Katerina edged closer and his hands settled on her thighs, squeezing and rubbing them through her skinny jeans, she slipped her own hands under his jacket and gripped his shirt, enjoying the sensation of being fed from whilst wondering if dinner was going to be further delayed for sex.

"Well this is disgusting…you know some people use tables for eating food, not their debauchery"

Katerina jumped at the surprise and shouted when Elijah's fangs tore her vein, he broke away and she grabbed the pocket square from his jacket, holding it to her neck and swallowing as the blood stained the white silk.

She glared at her fiancé as the wound slowly closed up, he sighed and drew the ruined silk away to ensure that the bleeding had stopped before greeting his sister,

"Little sister" he opened his arms, "Welcome to your new home"

Rebekah Mikaelson looks around with distaste, "It'll do, though it will have to be redecorated"

"Actually" Katerina hopped off the table, "We just finished redecorating and furbishing and purchasing all the cutlery and linen and what-have-you but feel free to put your personal touches on your own room"

The blonde drops her purse on the table, essentially ignoring the doppelganger, looking to her eldest brother,

"She isn't going to be living with us on a permanent basis is she?"

Elijah smiles and drops his head, readjusting Damon's watch before addressing his sister,

"I'm rather afraid she is, you see, Katerina and I are to be wed"

Katerina smirks and tries to hide her wince as Rebekah's shriek of outrage threatens to break every piece of glass within a five mile radius.

"_Have you completely lost your mind?!_"

"Isn't it wonderful!" she gushes with feigned enthusiasm, "You and I are going to be _sisters_ Becky!"

Elijah presses his hand to her lower back, "Darling, perhaps you and I should eat upstairs tonight?"

Katerina places her left hand on her chest, angling her ring finger so that the red diamond caught the light and hit Rebekah's eyes,

"But I was going to ask your sister to be a bridesmaid"

"_Go!_"

She chuckles and saunters past as Rebekah sneers at her, "You marry my brother over my dead body!"

Katerina laughs lightly, "Of course, would you like your corpse to be laid out on the aisle or seated in the front row?"

"Katerina!" Elijah chides and she throws her hands up, "I'm going Elijah, geez can't a girl wreak some havoc in peace around here?"

However, she obediently climbs the staircase as her lover tries to reason with his sister,

"Rebekah for the sake of our family, could you maybe quash your personal opinions for one moment and think of my happiness"

"I am" his sister screeched, stomping forward "You can't marry that devious trollop, she won't make you happy"

Katerina smirked, this last half year Elijah had frequently stated was one of the happiest times of his life.

* * *

She doesn't go to their apartment however, but to the second floor parlour beside the ballroom, curling up in the black velvet armchair she stared out the window at the wide expanse of grass and imagined running across the garden.

Running free.

When she had been running for her life, for five hundred years, in her own way she had been free.

She wasn't now.

Klaus Mikaelson had granted her a stay of execution for her having killed Marcel Gerard when he had been planning to murder Hayley and his unborn son but Elijah had served her terms of imprisonment.

_"You will stay here in New Orleans with me Katerina…you shall serve Klaus and I loyally…you will not leave this city without my spoken permission…you will never run away from me ever again"_

It had taken three months but Katerina had finally been able to force self-awareness upon her mind, to realise the compulsion Elijah had placed upon her during their first night together.

At the time he didn't trust her.

Now…he claimed to love her more than the sun on his face and to need her more than his daylight ring yet the compulsion remained.

Which is why she had planned the upcoming festivities.

The brothers were always distracted playing the role of benevolent dictators during these Quarter wide celebrations, meeting with the other factions, ensuring that peace would be maintained whilst presenting the image of a secure kingdom and hierarchy through their carefree enjoyment of the festival.

Katerina had hoped that she could use the opportunity to disappear into the crowd and make herself available to be approached.

Later if Elijah noticed her disappearance she could lie and say that she was partying or that she was gathering information.

After all, Katerina Petrova was one of the best information traders in the supernatural world.

She'd learnt long ago that when you lacked strength- knowledge was power. The more knowledge you had, the better deals you could make, the better partners you could ally yourself with.

She had a great deal of knowledge.

However. There was limits to what even she could understand.

For example, why her long lost daughter had supposedly tracked her down after five hundred years and trying to contact her now that she lived in New Orleans.

She had made initial contact through a middleman, a low level information trader that had supposedly been vainglorious enough to take the job, to approach Katerina without realising that he had been chosen purely because he was of so little import nobody would care if she snapped his neck and threw him in the Mississippi.

Now, Katerina was waiting for her daughter to announce her presence, to make herself known and completely upend her- if not peaceful at least _easy_- life in New Orleans.

What was worse was the calm before the storm, the inevitable wait between the acts.

Katerina waited day after day for the next sign from her child but none came, so she showed herself around town, flung herself desperately into life in the hope of making herself available to be reached for news.

And still she waited.

* * *

Elijah found her a mere ten minutes later after Rebekah had stormed out of the house, slamming the front door so loudly Katerina wondered whether they might need to have it repaired.

She took pride in this house, when she and Elijah had chosen it she'd allowed her imagination to run wild, picturing a future for the two of them, a life where instead of fighting daily for her survival she could debate where to have lunch with Elijah or whether or not to invite people to the Bourbon St manor or to the mansion _Le Coeur Jardin. _

The room has grown dark in the oncoming night but neither of them reaches for the light.

Neither of them struggles to see in the darkness, either literal or metaphorical.

Finally, Katerina decides to speak,

"So" she keeps her eyes fixed on the window, "Is Rebekah demanding my head on a silver platter or my heart to be cooked and eaten?"

Her fiancé clicks his tongue, "You may survive yet, as it stands she is currently only requesting that I present to her indisputable evidence that my brain has not atrophied or ceased to function entirely"

She rolls her eyes and hears him settle in the matching armchair opposite her,

"She will come around, she is simply bewildered and she has never had to share Niklaus or I with another female before, she has always been the little darling"

The little darling of the Mikaelson family.

That was the equivalent of being the sweetest person in the leper colony, outsiders were still going to bend over backwards to avoid you.

Especially when you had a reputation for betraying or abandoning your family every time a lover suggested it.

Elijah played with his cufflinks, ones she had bought him, "My darling, I know that the two of you aren't predisposed to care for one another, but for my sake, could you please try? After all, the cure debacle aside, the two of you have never encountered one another or had any reason to dislike each other"

That was true.

It was also the unfortunate reminder of the many reasons that Katherine and the Original family should still be enemies or conspiring to destroy everything the other held dear.

But to look back would destroy her, so Katherine rolls over so that she's sitting on the chair properly, facing him and smiles,

"For you my lord and love, I might even invite her to the wedding"

He makes a face at that, their wedding is something that is currently only a vague idea in the back of their minds, an event with a date set for 'someday'

After all, they are both immortal, one a vampire, one a champion skinny dipper in a Fountain of Youth, why rush when they have all the time in the world?

He crosses the room to take her left hand in his, stroking it with his thumb and kissing the inside of her wrist, his eyes are burning as his lips brush her skin, the brown orbs bring to mind coal glowing in a fire.

"Will you dance with me in the ballroom?" he whispers entreatingly, applying the gentlest pressure to bring her to her feet.

Katerina laughs and stares at him incredulously, "I don't think Rebekah coming home to find me naked on top of you is going to do wonders for her and my friendship"

He opens his mouth faltering and the realisation hits her,

"Oh, you mean _dance_-dance, I thought we were speaking in euphemisms"

He smirks and begins walking backwards, towards the large double doors that open into the grand ballroom,

"When have you ever allowed me to use such subtlety? You barely tolerate euphemisms in public, let alone the privacy of our home"

She shrugs innocently as he turns on the lights, a warm glow filling the cavernous room, bouncing off the cream and gold filigree walls and polished oak floor,

"We're grown adults, we're obviously together, why hide anything?"

A twinge of guilt courses through her but Elijah is busy with his phone, finding a classical composition to play.

He leaves the device on a stand and leads her to the centre of the floor bowing when the music filters clearly throughout the room.

Katerina curtsies, despite her skinny jeans and in moments is in his arms, spinning around the room, pretending in her mind's eye that they are at the Hofburg Palace, surrounded by Austrian nobility, in ornately decorated silk outfits, tipsy on champagne and blue blood.

They aren't afraid of family, they aren't cautious about the past and blindly optimistic about the future.

All there is the Viennese sky full of stars, the palace full of beauty and wit, and each other to love passionately as they have always done.

But something primal calls to Katerina, forces her to accept the empty ballroom in New Orleans and the pirated music on repeat as her reality.

Because New Orleans is where her daughter is waiting to meet her.

* * *

A/N- Katherine is my favourite TVD character so I hope I captured her properly.


	4. Bonnie

A/N- I have an essay due tomorrow so now is the perfect time to finish a chapter early and post it up!

* * *

The giant mug was placed in front of her on a china plate with a teapot beside it,

"Enjoy" Ash told her brightly, "But be careful, it's steaming!"

Bonnie smiled her thanks and waited until she was alone again before taking the lid off the pot and sticking her fingers into the boiling water.

Nothing.

She could feel the agony of the burn and the water scalding her skin but she might as well have plunged her fingers into the icy water of the Arctic for all the heat she could feel.

Nothing.

She withdraws her fingers and dries them on a napkin before pushing the small coffee table away with her foot and sinking back on the leather armchair.

Ever since she came back from the Other Side she hasn't been able to feel warm.

Standing in a shower, in front of a roaring fire, or lying on her back with Jeremy thrusting inside her, she couldn't feel even the slightest bit of heat.

All she could register was the pain from the burn, not the burn itself.

Her craving for herbal tea is gone along with any hope she had for the day.

And there wasn't much hope to begin with.

She doesn't even know why she bothered considering that she woke up this morning to a goodbye text from Caroline on her phone,

'_Hey! Setting off now will call you when I get there. Have a great holiday ;)' _

Setting off.

To New Orleans.

Where Niklaus Mikaelson the Original Hybrid was probably lying on a bed of silk sheets wearing little more than a smile on his despicable face.

_Asshole_.

And Caroline was going to sleep with him like a slut.

Not that anyone was calling her on it. Even her own mother had barely tried to stop her from going to the French Quarter, though Liz had been absolutely horrified when Bonnie had told her how her daughter planned to spend her winter holidays, she'd allowed herself to be talked into submission.

What kind of _mother_ was she?!

Caroline would be furious if she knew that Bonnie had been the one to reveal her plans to visit Klaus to the Sheriff but what sort of friend would she be if she had let her run off into the hybrid's arms without a fight?

She'd be Elena Gilbert probably.

Bonnie loves her best friends like sisters but goes wild with anger when they fail to realise just how stupid they are being.

One of them is running right into the arms of the most dangerous supernatural creature on the planet, trusting that he won't hurt her or refuse to let her leave New Orleans when their two week vacation is up.

And there is nothing in the world to stop Klaus from keeping Caroline there. From imprisoning her in a dungeon, in chains as his slave.

Despite this, despite Bonnie having pointed this out to Stefan numerous times, nobody had done a damn thing to stop her. Of course, that was because both Salvatore brothers were busy these days.

Both of them were sleeping with Elena Gilbert.

_Both_ of them.

Both brothers.

Sometimes at the same time!

Bonnie had been stunned all those months back when she'd discovered that after years of highlighting the differences between herself and Katherine Pierce, Elena had pulled the ultimate 'Katherine' move and entered a three way relationship with Damon and Stefan.

It was disgusting, how the hell did they… _how_ did it work…?

Bonnie knew the three of them wouldn't last, there was no way the two brothers who'd fought for the better part of two hundred years and could barely share a house would be able to share the woman they both loved. And when Elena finally chose one of them the fallout would be catastrophic, blood, broken bones and her best friend sobbing on her shoulder completely unable to comprehend why her love life had to be so hard.

It was strange how she had endured so much seemingly without becoming an adult.

Bonnie on the other hand.

She had been born an old soul and her suffering had matured her, giving her a tragic air that drew in fellow empathic peoples.

It was why Celeste had watched her for only a few weeks before approaching her to beg for her aide.

And of _course_ she'd sought her out.

After all, Bonnie was a Bennett. She was one of the most powerful witches in the world, she was a valuable ally.

She was special and Celeste's attention was a salve when her friends and family were busy ignoring her trauma in favour of 'living their normal lives'

* * *

The bell above the café door jingled and Bonnie raised her head as Jesse strode in, slow and confident as a senior student who knows his way around campus and knows his place all too well. He was gorgeous and intelligent and if Bonnie didn't have an epic romance with Jeremy she would have been tempted. But Jesse had taken one look at Caroline and it'd been clear where his interests lay.

She tilts her chin and makes eye contact, he nods and heads over, reaching down for a friendly hug before pulling up a chair,

"So…" he clasps his hands, "Caroline headed off this morning?"

"Yep" Bonnie poured him her tea, "Around dawn I'm guessing, sorry about that"

He shook his head with a rueful grin, "It's fine, I figured she wasn't going to ever drop her plans solely for my sake, especially when it would have meant her coming to Jackson or me headed to Mystic Falls and meeting the parents"

He speaks lightly but there's a wistfulness in his tone that makes her understand that even if he wasn't betting on that happening, a part of him had hoped that it would.

Bonnie sighed, taking in the hot guy in front of her. He was _perfect_ for Caroline, he was funny, kind, friendly to everyone, sociable, intelligent, considerate and a romantic. Every straight girl on campus who knew Jesse was single had spent the semester actively trying to change his status and he was interested in the one girl too _stupid_ to know a catch when it landed in her lap.

This was the guy you dated, the one you brought home to meet your family on holidays, the one you had cute study sessions with in the library and introduced to your friends.

Klaus was the guy you ran from in fear or avoided like the plague.

Caroline couldn't bring him home for the holidays, he had a kingdom to despotically rule in New Orleans and her mother would shoot him if he walked into her house. He had a kid so he wasn't about to re-enrol in college and what the hell would he study anyway?

Politics 101 or Intro to Criminal Law?

No point introducing Klaus to her friends, they all had an acquaintance with the man who had terrorised them mercilessly to get what he wanted.

She smiles as Ash brings her a fresh cup for the tea and sits on the arm of Jesse's chair, chatting with him for a good five minutes, utterly enchanted with everything he has to say. She lived on the same floor as him and was either deeply infatuated or completely in love with him.

Soon she's called back to work and Jesse edges closer to Bonnie, lowering his voice even though there's no-one around to understand what they're discussing,

"So" he clears his throat, "What did Celeste have to say?"

* * *

Twelve hours earlier 

_Jeremy had fallen asleep quickly after they'd had sex, dozing off with his arm flung over her chest, she'd counted backwards from one thousand before climbing out of the bed, thankful when he didn't stir. _

_Dressing quickly in yoga pants and his sweatshirt, she stuck her feet in ugg boots before venturing out into the freezing night. The cheap no frills motel was in a quiet residential area which suited her greatly, nobody would be around to witness anything. _

_Still, she hurried down to the ground floor and slipped behind the side of the building, waiting impatiently until her mother came out of the shadows with another woman, Bonnie waited for them to approach and shivered when she felt the power radiating from the stranger.  
_

_"Are you Celeste?" she asked and the woman nodded, "Yes and you're the brave girl whose going to help the New Orleans witches"  
_

_Bonnie swore that she detected sarcasm in her tone, she felt defensive, "I'm saving my friend from Klaus, the witches can sort out their own problems"  
_

_Celeste bristled, "We need each other Bonnie Bennett, it's the only way we'll be able to destroy Klaus and the Originals once and for all"  
_

_"My daughter is more than willing to help" Abby assured Celeste, giving her daughter a pointed look that she'd seen mothers give their children when they were running around the Grill.  
_

_But why should it in any way quell Bonnie? Abigail Bennett had walked out on her when she was a year old, she'd re-entered her life only to shout orders at her ineffectually and sit on the sidelines bemoaning her vampirism as her daughter was lost to Expression.  
_

_This was followed by the several months in which she barely responded to the emails Bonnie dictated to Jeremy as the woman failed to realise that her own daughter had died.  
_

_No, Abby did not get to discipline her.  
_

_She eyes Celeste, from her boots to her pleather jacket, "What's in this for you?"  
_

_She receives a grin that brings to mind a dog bearing its teeth, "Freedom for the witches of New Orleans"  
_

_"No" Bonnie has been standing up to supernatural creatures for years now, this one doesn't frighten her, "If that was it there'd be eleven other people in this conversation, I don't work with people unless I know what the hell they're fighting for, what's in this for you?"  
_

_Celeste juts out a hip and glares "You're bold for a girl without magic"  
_

_Bonnie crosses her arms, "Go ahead and kill me, you can either answer to the Ripper of Monterrey and his psychotic older brother, a Five hunter or Klaus Mikaelson courtesy of Caroline Forbes. Make no mistake, I will end this deal right now and walk away without a damn"  
_

_"Fine" she rolls her eyes, "I have a vendetta against Katherine Pierce, happy?"  
_

_"No" Bonnie scoffed, "Everyone in the supernatural world has a vendetta against Katherine Pierce, she can't sleep at night unless she's committed three atrocities or ruined six lives. What makes your hatred of her so damn special?"  
_

_"If you must know, the bitch killed me" _

* * *

Bonnie related this to Jesse in a low voice, pleased by his interested expression,

"Okay, so she wants revenge on one person" he mulls the information over, "Does that matter though? As long as the both of you have the same goal, as long as the vampires are taken out, does it matter what happens to the Katherine person?"

She considered this as they were brought another round of tea and offered lunch menus,

"I'm worried she'll leave Katherine alive" she admits, "Even if she's no longer with the Originals…actually, especially if she's out on her own, she's going to be dangerous as hell and wanting payback. If she gets to Mystic Falls, if she turns Caroline or Elena against me, she'll have the entire group on her side"

Jesse shakes his head, "Caroline would never turn against you she loves you and Elena like her own sisters"

Bonnie sighed, "Yeah but once I would have been positive that Caroline would never be stupid enough to sleep with Klaus and that Elena would never sleep with two guys at the same time, _brothers_. I can't trust my friends not to be stupid about this"

He nods, "Okay, logically, from a scientific point of view, if they're going to negatively affect the outcome, you remove them from the process…I'm not saying kill them" he hastily adds, putting up his hands defensively, "But, I don't know, put a sleeping spell on them or something?"

She considers this idea and promises him that she'll think it over before throwing down some notes on the table and hugging him goodbye. She steps out into the blinding sunshine and figures that the dorm room will be empty by now, she can enjoy some privacy before Jeremy gets back from meeting his father's old lab partner.

* * *

Ashley threw off her apron the moment Bonnie Bennett was out of sight, grabbing her cigarettes from her pocket she announced that she was going on break before marching out the back door of the café, to a tiny area facing the road, hiding behind the large dumpsters and lighting up eagerly.

She'd had to go to great lengths to hide her nicotine addiction along with her natural accent and dammit every time she'd pasted a fake smile this semester she'd fucking wanted to claw someone's face off.

In a few moments Jessie slides into the space beside her, yanking the cigarette from her lips and pushing her against the wall as he kisses her passionately. She grinds her body against his and is raring to go when they break for air, "Christ it's been too long" she complains as he takes a drag before handing the cigarette back to her,

"You're one to complain," he snaps, gladly dropping back into his British accent,

"I haven't been able to so much as look at an ad for smoking lest I disgust the uppity Bennett bitch and last I checked you're not the one who's been the fuck toy of a vampire for the last two months, Jesus you wouldn't believe the fucking things I've had to do or the pills I've had to swallow to keep her interested. She's like a slutty energiser bunny, we go all night and she still sticks her fingers up her cunny for the finishing act. Fuck I've missed you babe"

He reaches for her hand and unbuttons his jeans, shoving her inside,

"Well?" she prompts as she squeezes him, "What's the plan?"

"They haven't fucking got one yet" he grouses, "Six fucking months and the only thing they've got is a boner for destroying about the mighty Mikaelson family. Why the hell the council sent us to watch this bullshit is beyond me, best case scenario they maybe overthrow a powerbase- that's a big fucking maybe  
considering what I read in the dossier on this Klaus bugger, worst case scenario- they fail and a few witches die, Nature gets thrown out of whack for…what? A generation or two max! God…" he trailed off as he came and leaned against the wall with a sigh,

"Still, we could have phoned this one in"

Ash wiped her hand and finished her cigarette, "Yeah, problem is though, these fucktwits might be brainless gits but they're also some of the most powerful or rarest supernatural creatures. If they wipe each other off the map the council is going to be pissed as hell"

"Right" he concedes with a sigh, "Gotcha, I'm gonna go deal with Maxfield before he recruits the younger Gilbert to his slicing and dicing…you good to handle Abigail Bennett"

Ash smirks, "It'll be my fucking pleasure"

* * *

A/N- I blame the last part on caffeine.


	5. Caroline II

A/N- Wow, VD Season 6 promo came out today. I get Stefan telling Elena to move on but come on, she lost the guy she loved, give her a year to bounce back completely.  
Also, some of you might be disappointed by this chapter, if so I apologise.  
Rated M!

* * *

It took her two days to reach New Orleans.

It was a fourteen hour drive from Whitmore through the South along Route 85 but Caroline had turned down Klaus' offer to buy her a first class plane ticket.

She'd felt more comfortable getting there on her own funds and been excited by the opportunity to explore her own country, stopping off for breaks in major cities and seeing some of the sights before moving on.

Caught up in a moment of romanticism she'd decided to throw her motel reservation to the wind and spend the first night sleeping in a green paddock under the starry blanket of the black velvet sky.

She wouldn't make that mistake again soon.

The natural world was incredibly loud. The creatures moving through the paddock, the bugs crawling on the grass, the night birds who stopped singing just in time for the day birds to take over.

And the light.

Sunrise is beautiful but not when you've had a sleepless night fighting the onslaught of ants.

The second night- after a quick round of compulsion on the adulterous couple next door to her- she slept wonderfully until midnight but she woke up restless with the urge to be back on the road.

She was so close to her destination now and the anticipation was driving her crazy.

It was strange but she could almost _feel_ Klaus waiting for her.

But when she checked her phone she saw nothing after the text he'd sent her around ten pm.

_'Goodnight sweetheart, see you soon'  
_

Romantic yet simple. Obviously he wasn't trying to pressure her but now that she allowed herself to think about it…

Maybe it wasn't romantic, maybe it was absent-minded? Klaus wasn't one for subtlety, when he wanted something he was vocal about it and when he wasn't one to wait.

God, what if he was sick of waiting for her?

_He's your first love. I intend to be your last, however long it takes.  
_

But they'd already had sex, what if he didn't want her anymore?

Not that the sex hadn't been amazing, really amazing…but what if the sex hadn't been so great for him?

She was only nineteen, she didn't have the same level of experience or range as him.

Although he had really seemed to enjoy it, especially when she'd gone down on him after their shower together.

No, Klaus wasn't one for politeness, if he didn't want her in New Orleans he would have told her not to come.

But what if six months was too long an absence? Maybe he moved on?

What if they didn't have any chemistry anymore?

She is in her car, pulling out of the motel on the edges of Monroeville and waiting impatiently for the GPS to load on her phone.

She arrives in New Orleans shortly before six am, having chased the sunrise right into the French Quarter, she finds parking near Esplanade Ave and wanders down Decatur St until she comes across Café Du Monde just as it's beginning to open and takes an outside seat.

Waiting patiently for the waiter to come out she orders the famous café au lait and beignet in such a bubbly manner that the poor guy is stuttering and falling over himself to try and flirt with her.

He's desperately asking her basic questions about her college experience and Mystic Falls when her voice trails off and her gaze focuses on something behind him.

The waiter turns to see a blonde, blue eyed guy with a light tan striding down the road, he hops onto the sidewalk and sweeps into the café, he's beaming and Caroline is so radiant the waiter pretty quickly figures he's stepping on toes and excuses himself just as Klaus reaches the table.

"Hello sweetheart" he grins as she gets to her feet, reaching a hand out to steady the chair after she nearly knocks it over in her eagerness.

"Hi" she breathes before she's in his embrace, her head on his shoulder with his arms tight around her.

It feels good, it feels right, they linger as their hands feel the bodies underneath them, assuring themselves that they are here, on that beautiful summer morning with the scent of the Mississippi in the air as the sun slowly lit up the world and the cool breeze danced across their skin.

He kisses her cheek when he pulls back but his eyes are so bright with happiness that Caroline impulsively stretches up and steals a kiss, her lips quickly brushing against his and breaking away again before he can react with anything more than pleasant surprise,

"You got my text?" she asked as he pushed her chair out for her and repositioned his own so that he's sitting next to her rather than with a table between them,

"I did" he confirmed, "And you're lucky I enjoy painting at the golden hour, otherwise you might have been abandoned, wandering the city on your lonesome"

She snickers, "Right, like you wouldn't have known thirty seconds after I parked my car anyways"

"Forty love, there was a party last night, all my flying monkeys are still sleeping it off"

They're giggling when her food is brought out and he gives the waiter his order before stealing a beignet, she squeals in feigned outrage and pushes the plate out of his reach,

"Did you enjoy your roadtrip?" he asks, trying to distract her while she tries to figure out how to snatch her pastry back from him.

"I did, I had lots of fun visiting all those towns" she tells him, sipping her coffee as her eyes flicker briefly to the street where signs of life are beginning to show but her gaze goes straight back to him, like a moth to the flame, unable to bare not drinking in the sight of him, he seems to be having the same trouble, not even noticing the waitress who puts his coffee on the table.

"And how many souvenirs do you need to ship back home to have breathing room in your car?" he teases knowingly,

"I…" she tries to defend herself before breaking into self-depreciative laughter, "Okay, admittedly two…maybe four boxes"

"_Caroline_" he draws out her name and she kicks his chair, "Shut up…okay five, but I have a lot of people to buy for!"

He laughs and there's powdered sugar on his lips so really she can't be held responsible for grabbing a fistful of his shirt and stealing another kiss.

However he's better prepared this time, he cups her cheek in his hand and draws her back when she breaks away,

"There's…a…fed…ex…up…on…Royal…St" he tells her between kisses, "I checked the opening times last night"

She smiles, of course he did.

She gives him a final kiss and nips at his bottom lip seductively before pulling away and feigning innocence as she nibbles on their breakfast.

He's clearly hot and bothered but grins and pushes his chair closer into the table, "Tell me how college life is treating you sweetheart"

She sips her coffee, "Good, it's been so much fun pretending to be normal but some of the students on campus…it's like they're not even trying you know. Seriously, I went to a charity dance where they had balloons as the only decoration and a couple of pizzas as food, I mean I could throw a better party in my…_oh_"

He'd rested a hand on her knee when she'd begun talking and it had been steadily climbing her thigh until it slipped under her dress, she gasps as his fingers start tracing the outline of her panties,

"Something wrong love?" he asks innocently as his middle finger slips under the elastic and rubs against her skin,

"Klaus!" she squeals, kicking him in the shin as his index finger joins in,

"We're in public!" she protests,

"No-one is watching" he assures her, looking about the reasonably empty street. Even such an attractive couple as they aren't going to garner much attention this early in the morning.

"Someone might see!" she points out but he shakes his head,

"You know I would never let them do that"

"I've missed you" he murmurs against her ear as his fingers run along her folds,

"Hmmm" she swallows and whimpers as he pinches her clit.

"Keep talking Caroline" he tells her, "Tell me every good thing you've experienced since we last kissed"

"I…" she squirms closer to his fingers as they slip close to her entrance, "I've told you"

"You texted me and I enjoyed those messages but I want to hear your voice, the way you light up with happiness, the lilt in your tone when you recall fond memories" his breath is hot on her neck and her eyes flutter closed before she forces them open and turns her face to his.

"Arriving at college was one of the best experiences of my life" she murmurs as her arousal makes her warm and wet, "I felt like such a grown up and everyone was so happy, there was such an excited air on campus, like everyone really wanted to be there"

His fingers penetrated her and she moaned, "Keep talking Caroline" he encouraged as he delved into her, "Tell me more"

"Uh huh…um" she blinked, "Moving in was so much fun, Elena, Bonnie and I have a large dorm to ourselves in the coolest building, there are so many exchange students on our floor and our R.A lets us get away with so much because he has a thing for Elena, even though she told him the first day that she has a boyfriend"

"_Boyfriend_?" Klaus clarified, noting the singular,

Caroline nodded, "Yeah, she uh…didn't want to be known as the polygamy girl and Damon stayed home to raise Jeremy so…anyway it is so much fun to unpack and decorate, there was music blasting and people kept coming by to say hi, which was difficult because the mini-fridge you gave me was top of the line and people kept wanting to take a look which meant Stefan had to hide all our blood in his room. But that night we had floor parties to meet everyone and it was so much fun, around two in the morning the power went out…Elena, Stefan and I could see fine of course but no one wanted the party to end so we just sat around in the common rooms talking in the dark. We were in bed by four and up by eight for our classes, the three of us have our own bathroom which is the greatest thing ever and since Elena's cut her hair she doesn't take an hour and a half to get ready anymore. My first day of classes I got lost twice and ended up in the wrong classroom once but a lot of students had the same problem, it's so confusing you know. Thankfully the first week is admin stuff, how to use the subject portals, what assignments we have…_Klaus_…_oh my god_"

He leaned over and kissed her, swallowing her squeal as she enjoyed her orgasm, pulling the napkin off the table and wiping his fingers clean.

"You're as resplendent as ever sweetheart" he whispers as she recovers, fixing her summer dress and throwing him a playful glare,

"And you have no patience" she accuses but he chuckles,

"Au contraire love, if I had as little patience as you suspected we would be coupling on this table right now",

Caroline clears her throat and reaches down for her handbag, "Then maybe we should…?"

He catches her meaning and his eyes go dark with lust, "Right now?"

She nods and he throws some notes down on the table before taking her hand and leading her quickly up the street.

* * *

Seeing his table has gone the waiter runs out in the hope of stopping them, fearing a dine and dash only to spot the greenbacks under the coffee cup.

One hundred dollars' worth of them.

His eyebrows shoot up as he heads to the register to sort out the bill.

The whole leave the money on the table cliché was a movie and tv trope that was really irritating for the service industry, especially if the money was stolen by other customers.

However, he supposed that when you were young and as gorgeous as that couple had been you could probably get away with murder.

Caroline gasped as Klaus sped her into a courtyard and pushed her up against a wall, they kissed hungrily as their hands roamed over each other's bodies.

He reached down and yanked his belt free of the loops and she grinned with anticipation, kissing him again as he guided her through the wide doors to a study, walking her backwards until she felt the back of her knees hit something and sat down on a couch.

She leant back against the cushions, throwing her dress off and ridding herself of her bra and panties before turning so that she was lying down and after Klaus rid himself of his shirt she pulled him down on top of her.

"_Wait_" she hummed as he nibbled and sucked her neck, "Ummm...no-one is going to walk in on us right?"

Klaus shook his head, as much as he was able to while his lips were moving down from her neck to her chest, "House is empty. Son, siblings' et al at mansion"

She sighed in relief and ran her fingers through his hair, stroking his golden curls as he lavished kisses on her breasts.

When she was panting and rolling her hips in want he got to his knees and unbuttoned his jeans, freeing his sizeable erection, however the denim barely got past his ass before she wrapped her legs around his back and drew him towards her.

They kissed once more before he slid in with a smooth thrust and she orgasmed.

"Oh…god…_Klaus_!"

He chuckled and kissed her cheek, "Sweetheart, I'm flattered but you really don't have to…_bloody hell_"

Her muscles had clenched around his cock and his eyes went wide as he propped himself up on his elbows to stare at her,

"Seriously!" he exclaims in disbelief, stealing her catchphrase,

"You actually had an orgasm!"

Caroline smirks, "Duh! Wait…you thought I was _faking_?"

He gapes, "How?"

She props herself up, ignoring his hard length still inside her, he was staying as still as possible to avoid losing his erection as her body continued to tremble around him,

"What do you mean _how_? It's an orgasm Klaus"

"On first penetration love, I'm good but I'm not that good"

She shrugs, "Well, I've had an entire semester full of mediocre, I guess my body just got excited by actual skill"

The aftershock has her moaning and he winces, slowly pulling out of her before she locks her legs tighter around him, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Tactical retreat" he deadpans, "I don't escape now it's going to be the shortest surrender in the history of…Caroline, if you don't release me now I'm going to release in less than two seconds"

She rolls her eyes, using her hand and legs to pull him back in, "Klaus, I'm equal opportunity and this is a fabric couch, do you know how hard they are to clean? Besides you've got a thousand years' experience, surely you can hold on for another minute…oh _God_!"

She'd climaxed again, from their tilted position when he'd re-entered her and he finishes seconds after her, resting his forehead on hers with a growl,

"You've ruined me" he accuses gently, kissing her, "Utterly ruined me my love, one thousand years developing this magnificent skill and stamina and even when I was human I lasted longer than this"

Caroline giggles at the absurdity of the situation. She was lying on a couch in a mansion in Bourbon St, early in the morning, wrapped in the arms of the Immortal Hybrid who'd she'd managed to bring to pieces in less than thirty seconds.

"_Aw_…poor baby" she teases, rubbing his shoulders, "Want me to fetch you some Viagra from a drug store?"

With another growl he picks her up, her legs wrapped around his waist and his hands on her bottom,

"Where are you taking me?" she squealed as he carried her through the house, up a flight of stairs,

"Bedroom" he tells her simply, "And I'm not releasing you until I've assured myself that you aren't a threat to my sexual stamina"

She throws her head back and laughs, looking so beautiful that he can't resist kissing her neck before kicking the door firmly shut.

* * *

Three hours later Caroline is clinging to the headboard for dear life as Klaus takes her from behind, another in the endless supply of orgasms tears through her and she cries out as he continues the demanding pace,

"Say it" he orders her, nipping at her sweaty shoulder blade as he pulls out all the way to slam back inside,

"I can do this all day sweetheart, you'll wear out before I do"

She sobs and rides the orgasm out, trying to figure if she can stand another one,

"_Fine_" she relents, "Klaus you are the greatest lover in the world and I love having sex with you…happy?"

His hands are on her waist, stroking her gently even as he loves her mercilessly, "Yes…now, say that American football is greatly overrated and European football is better"

She turns her head to stare at him in disbelief, "_What?!_ Why?"

"Because American football is greatly overrated, why play a sport if you're going to have that much body armour on?"

"Oh for fucks sake" Caroline can feel another orgasm coming on and honestly, her body is beginning to ache from the sheer level of enjoyment she's experienced as her lover spent the morning proving his stamina in an endless regimen of intercourse,

"Klaus, just finish already!"

He gives her a devilishly evil grin before his hands snake up to her breasts and pinch her nipples,

"Now what are these? Oh look they seem calibrated to your…"

With a loud curse Caroline loses her grip on the headboard and falls against the mattress as Klaus continues pounding,

"Fine," she surrenders, "American football is greatly overrated and European football is better"

"Yes it is" he agrees with false amiability before three quick thrusts and he explodes inside her with long spurts, he drops on top of her, careful not to hurt her before sliding beside her, cuddling her so that her back is against his chest, their legs intertwined.

He kisses her neck and wraps his arms around her, she grins and plays with his fingers before the door opens and an intruder barges in the room. She shrieks and with vampire speed pulls the blankets up from the floor where they had fallen while Klaus glares at the uninvited guest,

"Elijah"

The eldest Original has a polite smile on his face and absolutely no trace of the mirth he is feeling as Caroline ensures that she and his brother are modestly covered,

"Hello Niklaus, Caroline dear it is a pleasure to see you again"

She would offer him her hand but he wouldn't like where she'd had it over the last few hours,

"Brother, one of these days you'll have to learn the concept of privacy"

Elijah smiles, "Perhaps you and I could take a class together Niklaus, after all, it is not something you yourself excel at, besides there was no sock on the door. According to Katerina, in modern American culture that means that I am free to enter"

Klaus throws an arm out expressively, "There is clothing strewn all throughout the bloody house!"

"But no sock on the door" Elijah counters as Caroline busies herself tying her hair up,

"Do you have a sock handy?" she asks her lover quietly but he doesn't answer,

"Big brother, now that we have established that Caroline and I are in search of privacy…"

"Actually dear little brother, I have come to ensure that Caroline is aware of her options regarding accommodation for the next two weeks"

Caroline flushed and tucked her hair behind her ears nervously, "I thought I'd be staying with you guys" she said, "But I can totally stay in a hotel"

Klaus shook his head, "Nonsense we have plenty of room…"

"We have several rooms here" Elijah interrupted, "An entire house on Conti St and I am more than happy to book you a suite at a hotel"

"At the Garden District" Klaus finished grumpily, his brother nodding sagely, "That we do brother, guest bedrooms, all the way at the other end of the house…completely opposite…"

Klaus growled and Caroline jumped at the noise but can immediately tell that this isn't a forewarning of his werewolf side coming out to kill, it's a growl of frustration,

"Big brother, please leave before I indulge in the overwhelming urge to _kill_ you and your loved ones"

Elijah snickered, "You are my loved one"

"Then leave before I kill myself"

The eldest Original retreated to the door before turning back, "Oh and Caroline? There's a Food and Fashion festival tonight, I'll have Katerina come fetch you at sev-"

His speech is cut short by Klaus hurling a book with lightning speed and great force at the bedroom door which cracked under the impact. He flops back onto the bed, exhaling loudly as he visibly resists the urge to chase after his brother and beat him senseless.

Caroline is biting her cheek to stop herself from giggling. Once she realised that she wasn't in fact the cause of the argument-that Elijah had intruded for the sole purpose of outraging his brother she had sat back and watched the display with amusement.

And maybe it's the fact that she's exhausted and emotional from so many orgasms or tired from the long drive, but the bickering between the two brothers had been so laced with familial love and understanding that she hadn't thought Klaus would ever find.

The man in question is currently caressing her thigh with her fingers, she looks down at him with a tender smile which he readily matches.

"Welcome to New Orleans love"

* * *

A/N- My productivity is directly related to reviews- just saying...


	6. Rebekah

A/N- Holy crap so this is a long chapter. Sorry guys, I just started writing and here we are, I'm moving the story forward a little bit and setting up some of the tensions. Also there might be some slight deviations between the previous stories and this one, if there are I will let you know.

The dresses that Katherine and Caroline wear this chapter are in the links below,

www. stylebistro lookbook/Clothes/CNtmEh6t1Ks/Nina+Dobrev

www. shopyourtv 2014/04/vampire-diaries-season-4-promo-carolines-lace-peplum-dress/

* * *

Home.

It wasn't a concept Rebekah had enjoyed personally for many centuries.

Every time she and her brother's had settled down anywhere, Mikael would inevitably turn up and chase them off.

They had never really had time to set down roots or contemplate the future before arriving in the 'New World' and building their lives in New Orleans.

They had been devastated when they'd had to leave.

No, when they'd had to _flee_.

When she and Nik had stolen an automobile and driven madly into the night, the burning city behind them with their beloved Marcellus believed dead along with their hopes and dreams.

She could never forgive Mikael for that.

For destroying what little happiness she had known over the centuries.

What was the phrase? Right,

_'You can never go home again'_

Whomever said that had been correct, that statement in particular was never truer than for an immortal, for every time they went home it had inexorably altered beyond recognition.

That was why she had been so hesitant to come back to New Orleans.

After all, Mystic Falls had been almost like a different world entirely when she'd finally returned there.

It had also been an unmitigated disaster, so why on earth would she return to New Orleans?!

However, while she had been travelling Europe with Matthew Donovan and then imprisoned by Silas in the Quarry a la Stefan Salvatore, Niklaus and Elijah had been steadily building a life for themselves in their old city and when she had failed to return as punctually as they would have liked they went and continued building it without her.

They threw events without inviting her.

They marked special occasions without her.

They purchased properties where her bedroom was a last consideration.

They formed alliances that functioned without her.

They seized power and distributed the spoils without a single reward being thrown her way.

They killed…

_Marcel_.

Oh how she had _loved_ him. And now, there wasn't even an empty grave to mourn him.

Because Katherine Pierce had killed him and been rewarded for it when she should have been punished with her long overdue execution.

* * *

Rebekah growled as she entered the ground floor parlour to find yet another bouquet of Bulgarian roses sitting on the side table in a crystal vase.

The whole bloody house was full of the damn flowers, their scent permeating every room save the nursery because apparently her nephew had an appetite for expensive imports.

The damn things gave her a headache.

Not so much the pink petals or the heady smell so much as what they bloody represented.

Katherine Pierce and her damn assimilation into the Original household.

Into Rebekah's damn family.

She could hear her now, clattering around in the apartment she and Elijah kept and called 'their sanctuary', her heels clicking against the marble of the bathroom floor as she got ready for the evening festivities.

The festival that was being thrown in honour of _Caroline's_ arrival.

Rebekah came home to New Orleans to find one brother fornicating on the dining table and another on the phone with the municipal offices, she had to carry her own bags and see to her own needs but bloody Caroline Forbes got a damn parade!

* * *

She throws herself down on the couch to seethe but doesn't even get a full minute alone with her thoughts before her brothers came through the front door, bringing what sounded like half of the French Quarter with them.

An older man steps into the parlour and spots her, coming over with his hand held out.

Usually that would surprise her, not many people would approach an Original in such an open manner, especially when they would have to know who they were. But in this case what surprised her was the collar on his shirt.

The man was a priest.

"Hello" he greeted in a warm, friendly tone, "Father Kieran, St Anne's Church,"

She shook his hand limply, "Rebekah Mikaelson"

"Oh, hey!"

They both looked up as a blonde woman entered the room, "Nik and Elijah have told us so much about you"

Rebekah was given another handshake and could see faint familial resemblance between the two visitors,

"Camille O'Connell, Cami, Nik invited us over for pre-drinks"

Rebekah blinked but followed them into the backyard where a wet bar had been set up, along with several lounge chairs and tables.

A few dozen people milled around, chatting amiably as drinks were handed out and cigars lit.

"The most powerful people in the Quarter" a voice whispered in her ear, she saw her eldest brother appear at her side wearing his usual suit and sipping on a scotch,

"We were going to host them on Bourbon St but it's being used as a nightclub for the vampires tonight, we figured why not bring them here, show off our wealth and status"

It made sense and Rebekah is temporarily distracted from her bad mood,

"Alright" she admits grudgingly, "Tell me who's who then"

He linked his arm through hers and walks her out among the crowd, smiling amiably as people greeted them, he led her to the edge of the swimming pool and handed her his scotch,

"The priest is Father Kieran. Leader of the human faction- a good man, we attend his services every Sunday at St Anne's, the heart of the French Quarter community. The blonde woman by his side is Camille, she's a student at Tulane completing her PHD in Psychology, she bartends at Rousseau's and is friends with Niklaus, she is the one who found us Erik's babysitter. She had a twin brother Sean, unfortunately he was hexed into murderous insanity by one of the now dead witches and as such, the human and witch factions here are now enemies, which benefits us greatly"

He turns an infinitesimal amount, blocking her view of the priest and directs her attention to the underdressed brunette standing almost on top of the bar and throwing back shots like she was an immortal creature,

"Sophie-Anne" she can hear the distaste in her brother's tone,

"One of the witches who dared to blackmail Klaus using Hayley and Erik's life for leverage, we were going to kill her during the purge but she managed to escape and then somehow slinked back into New Orleans, she's the current head of the faction, sliding into the role by default because there isn't a soul left with the power or willingness to take on the position. However Katerina does believe that another is likely standing behind the curtain pulling the strings"

Rebekah doesn't want to hear about the opinions of Katherine bloody Pierce, she glances at the tall dark-haired man in a nice button down shirt who tries to step back into the house just as Nik blocks his path and ushers him back onto the patio, "Failed intruder?"

"Jackson Parsons, werewolves" Elijah led her to the bar for another drink, lowering his voice so that only she could hear him,

"It turns out Hayley did have family in New Orleans, unfortunately they were trapped in wolf form until quite recently…now they are constantly demanding face time with Erik, they believe that with hybrid blood he will be a powerful alpha for them. Of course after the issue with Tyler Lockwood, nobody sees Erik without our dear brother's express permission"

"So nobody is seeing him then?" Rebekah guesses correctly and he shrugs, "You can forgive Niklaus for being overprotective when you consider that the dear child was kidnapped and harmed"

He waves a hand at the people gathered around, "The rest are inconsequential, hangers on or second-in-command…or…"

Rebekah turns to him with interest as he trails off, puts down his glass and strides purposefully into the house with her following him out of curiosity. He leads her to the foot of the main staircase where a woman in a business suit has just begun her ascent, when he clears his throat she flinches and turns around,

"Hello Elijah"

"Francesca Correa" Elijah greeted the suited woman with a tone that could stop an avalanche in its tracks, "Forgive me, I did not realise you had been invited this evening"

"She wasn't"

Katherine Pierce is standing at the top of the stairs, one hand resting lightly on the rail as she descends in a gorgeous black mini dress with a beaded collar and low cut lace over her chest that accentuated her breasts.

The bitch always did dress to seduce.

She pushes a stray curl behind her shoulder as she continues talking "She has _never_ been invited to this house and _never_ will be, leave now before I get blood on my shoes"

Everyone glances at her off-white silk heels and then their gazes trail up her long bare legs, just as she intended.

Francesca Correa gives a thin lipped grimace, "Of course" she grits out between clenched teeth.

However, Rebekah notes that as eager as her brother and his paramour are to have this intruder leave, neither budge an inch when she turns to leave, effectively trapping her on the staircase. With implacable expressions, they watch as she has to squeeze under Elijah's arm to reach the ground floor and then hurry from the house with her wounded dignity.

Standing in the hallway, Rebekah opens her mouth to inquire about the woman only to catch a movement in her peripheral vision.

Katherine Pierce is poised one step up from Elijah, her head tilted and looking down at him with sickening adoration that is out of place on the sociopathic bitches face,

"My protector?" she murmurs with a raised eyebrow, earning a quick half-shrug from Elijah,

"My darling" he responds as if the two words are an answer, which Rebekah supposes they must be because Katherine gives him a kiss that lingers past the point of appropriate and slides past him in what can only be described as clothed foreplay.

A kiss full of the promise of later.

Rebekah couldn't recall the last time she had been kissed like that.

Wait, yes she could.

_Marcel_.

* * *

"Hi!"

Rebekah is violently pulled from her nostalgic recollections by the irritating high pitched voice belonging to Caroline Forbes. She patters down the stairs with her black pumps in hand, wearing a gold and black lace dress.

Basic minds think alike obviously.

"I'm not late am I?" she checks worriedly, apparently forgetting that the two of them had never even come close to approaching the point of small talk,

"Elijah said seven but it sounds like everything's kicking off early"

She smelt like floral body wash but her eyes still bore the shine of the endorphin rush, she was deliciously flushed, her hair hanging naturally around her shoulders.

Rebekah had seen her brother in his button down and formal jeans- the only pair without bloodstains- as he'd entered the house but if she was a betting woman she would wager that he'd gone straight from bedding Caroline to round up the guests currently drinking in the backyard, unaware that their king was a debauched fiend.

"Don't look at me," Rebekah sniped, "I don't even know _what_ we're doing tonight"

"Food and Fashion festival in the Quarter" Nik announces from the front door, having walked through the garden, "And the car is here, so shall we?"

With one more irritating smile at Rebekah, Caroline slipped on her heels and hurried down the hall to take the hand proffered to her, they disappeared out of sight as the guests began to tramp through the house or the garden, chatting away happily, shouting their immediate plans to one another over their shoulders or calling friends and acquaintances to announce their impending arrival.

Caught up in the wave, Rebekah stepped onto the veranda to see several cars lining the street, convertibles, vintage automobiles, jeeps and a limousine parked in the very front.

Not enough for transportation for dozens of people but enough for the most important to ride in style.

Elijah is standing beside the black stretch, his hands on the hips of his slattern as she whispers in his ear, almost too quick for anyone to see he squeezes her rump and then guides her into the car before looking around and spotting her,

"Come along little sister" he calls, "We don't want to be late"

With a sigh, she flashes down the front path and stops beside the car, "Ready"

He grins and holds the door open for her so that she can slide in and finds herself in the side seat next to Katherine.

The doppelganger gives her a 'once-over' before turning her attention to Nik and Caroline's conversation.

Rebekah can admit that Forbes does look good with her older brother, both of them blonde haired, blue eyed and tanned, their eyes glued to each other as Caroline asked question after question about every aspect of the French Quarter and only reluctantly pulled her gaze away from its King when Elijah or Katherine offered an opinion or answer.

They were barely in the car half an hour as the cavalcade made its way from the Garden District to Bourbon St, sliding to a stop just outside the Hard Rock Café, gaining the attention of curious onlookers. All traffic had been blocked out of the main streets of the Quarter for the weekend, only a privileged few had obviously been exempt.

However, despite the parking available to them, the crowds made it impossible for the cars to go any further.

Not that anyone seemed to mind particularly.

When the driver opens the door for them, Klaus jumps out and offers his arm to Caroline who blushes as she slides into the open air, Elijah does the same for Katherine but at least has the decency to remember his sister.

Rebekah takes in the scene around her, the guests from the party all leaving their cars to stand together, still chatting animatedly but apparently with more self-awareness than before.

After all, they were being watched.

The crowds that prevented them from driving into the very heart of the Quarter were now watching as they lingered on the road, obviously all connected, giving off the air of belonging to an exclusive group that didn't advertise or even encourage membership.

The crowds were a mixture of citizens and tourists, well dressed and casual, all excited and curious.

Especially when the police escort for the Mayor approached and they all fell after him, Mayor Moyne leading the way with a determined gait, a politician's smile stretched across his features and his lined hand poised and ready to start waving at the voters.

Security had cleared a small walking area along the road with black posts and velvet rope so that the most important people in the city wouldn't all be vulnerable amongst the crowd at one time. However it only left room for two to walk abreast.

And somehow, by some rules of precedence Rebekah had yet to figure out, the procession automatically sorted itself.

Niklaus and Caroline were first after the Mayor, their arms linked and Elijah and Katherine a step behind, Rebekah awkwardly followed alone as Father Kieran walked with an unpretentious Camille, the werewolves behind them and the witches trailing in their wake.

The procession was led down Bourbon St, moving slowly as they reached the festival area where several stands had been set up and the press of the crowds against the barriers hindered the movement of the escort.

The Mayor continued to be jovial but in spite of the obvious recognition on the faces of the citizens and the realisation on those of the tourists, he was not the centre of attention.

Nobody is going to be watching a sixty year old wrinkled man in a nondescript suit when there were five amazingly beautiful well-dressed people standing right behind him with wondrous smiles on their faces and laughter in their voices as they formed a merry party.

Cell phones were held up high to take photos and Rebekah shook her hair back as she pretended not to notice, the flashing of the press cameras was harder to ignore but she understood why it was that Klaus and the leaders of New Orleans had chosen to arrive together in such a fashion.

It was a chance to be seen.

The admiration of the crowd, the curiosity of the onlookers, the envy as they watched the elite pass them by and wanted to be one of the lucky ones.

The attention partially soothed Rebekah's wounded ego.

Her smile is even partially natural when they reach the centre of Bourbon St where a large stage had been set up, the crowd was thicker here and the barriers even tighter, so Nik pulls one of them aside and they all filter into the sweating crowd of bodies. Rebekah following her family as they take front row of the audience. The Mayor is being clapped and cheered on now as he climbs onto the platform and approaches the microphone,

"_Thank-you!_" he announces, "Thank-you everyone and welcome to our first annual _New Orleans Food and Fashion festival!_"

The entire street has been decorated with banners and ribbons, stalls line the pathways in front of the shops, restaurants and bars which are all doing a roaring trade. Galleries have been converted for the fashion shows and Rebekah can see the models and starlets watching the speech from the balconies.

The Mayor holds up his hands to silence the cheering, "Now, before we begin. I want to remind everyone to stay safe but I'd also like to extend my gratitude to the two people who organised this event. My personal friends Niklaus Mikaelson and Katherine Pierce"

_Personal friends?!_

The Mayor gestured down to the two people in question, Klaus nodded graciously although Rebekah could see the affronted look in his eyes.

Katherine merely gave her catlike smile and waved a hand back to the mayor that showed off her grace and her ridiculous engagement ring at the same time.

Rebekah wondered if she had ever performed an unpractised movement in her life.

"Now" the Mayor laughed, "I had hoped the sun would set a little sooner tonight but to kick off this event and to show my gratitude…_Enjoy the fireworks!_"

The loud bang of the brocade fireworks sounded right over their heads and every werewolf and vampire on the street momentarily panicked at the unexpected noise, wincing and putting themselves on guard as their sensitive ear drums shattered from the noise and deafened them, leaving them partially vulnerable until their healing factors kicked in.

Klaus is looking murderous when he raises his head, his eyes glaring gold on black but the Mayor doesn't seem to notice, he's too busy posing for the reporters on the stage, laughing amiably and Elijah is suddenly at his arm.

"I do not think he meant it as an attack brother" he tells him as the Original Hybrid bares his teeth, ready to maim at will despite being in a ridiculously overpopulated area.

"It was an accident!" Cami appeared breathless and nearly ran into Rebekah, "Kieran just found out about it from a staffer about thirty seconds ago, nobody realised that it would be so…"

Another bang, strobe fireworks this time and the creatures wince but react less violently to the noise as their senses start to adjust.

Caroline takes Klaus' hand,

"_Chill_" she tells him, "They're just decorative. It's not a festival without fireworks"

He blinks and his eyes are blue again. "Of course love, who doesn't enjoy fireworks?"

Merriment is restored and Camille darts back off, probably to assure her uncle that he wouldn't be needing to perform the Last Rites en masse tonight.

Meanwhile her brothers are entertaining their dates while she stands there awkwardly.

She watches the two couples enviously, Rebekah hated being the fifth wheel.

Standing in the street glancing sideways to the two couples. Niklaus and Caroline with linked arms, taking a selfie. Katherine nestled in Elijah's embrace watching the fireworks.

All of them apparently oblivious to the surreptitious stares of the onlookers in the know.

They were all so picturesquely happy and it stung Rebekah in her lonely heart.

"I'm going to get food!" she announces sullenly, pushing past them and weaving her way through the crowd, "Bye Bekah" Katherine chirps at her back.

* * *

She settles for eating pierogi and a pasty white man with dreadlocks and a Bob Marley t-shirt.

She walks amongst the happy crowd and takes in the food stands representing every restaurant in the city that could afford a stand for the festival.

She compels herself a front row seat to a fashion festival and afterwards compelled herself several new outfits to be delivered to the mansion in the Garden District.

She is in a bar deciding to have her first hurricane when she senses someone at her shoulder,

"I'd have thought you'd have had enough of my family for one night" she muses as she turns to take in Francesca Correa with two thugs at her side.

The older woman rolls her eyes, "Not at all, I've had enough of _Katherine Pierce_ to last a lifetime but unfortunately she doesn't seem to be going anywhere"

Now there's an attempt at camaraderie if ever she's heard one.

"Hmmm" Rebekah sips her bright red cocktail and contemplates her choices.

Oh, what the hell. She didn't have anything else to do tonight.

"It's bloody crowded in here" she complains as she reaches down and breaks the hand of a man trying to take an up-skirt photo of her, he falls to the ground with a shriek of pain.

"Let's go somewhere private" Francesca offers, clicking her fingers at the bartender who nods as she sweeps down into the staff hall and leads Rebekah up a flight of stairs to a private lounge.

It's nothing much to look at, a few armchairs and a poker table but Rebekah is halfway to being impressed.

"Do you own the bar?" she inquires as she's offered a tray of food, Francesca shakes her head and accepts a wedge of cheese,

"No but most of the managers on the street are willing to allow a certain, small group of people access to their private areas at any time…for a small fee of course" she smiles depreciatingly,

"I know your brother was given the option when he first arrived in town but, well, he prefers to perform for an audience"

No need to clarify _which_ brother she's referring to.

Rebekah only shrugs, "That's Nik, through and through, he figures the more public the display of power the better, it discourages opposition"

Francesca makes a sound of agreement as she sips on her own drink, "And the reason I wanted to speak to you tonight, I figured our little tete-a-tete could be a chance to catch you up on what's happening in the Quarter"

Rebekah _knows_ she should bristle at the implication that she isn't in the know, that she should be offended that this human is presuming to tell her what is happening in her own brother's kingdom.

But perhaps she has something to gain from feigning friendship with this woman.

To begin with, she doesn't tell Rebekah anything that she couldn't have guessed.

Niklaus is King of New Orleans.

He issued commands and laws, holding power over every supernatural creature in the city.

Elijah was his right-hand man, he oversaw the alliances between the factions, handled the issues that arose weekly and kept everything running smoothly.

And then she gets to Katherine Pierce.

Even she had a position in this new order.

Famous for being one of the best information traders in the supernatural world she kept Elijah abridge with any and all gossip regarding the Quarter, who was sleeping with who, which factions were on the verge of all-out warfare, which were discontented with Klaus' leadership.

Those who were looking for an introduction to the Original men went knocking on the doors of Petrova's favourite haunts first, seeking her favour.

They went to that Bulgarian peasant.

Not to _her_, Rebekah was ignored, unknown, as the slut that had wreaked havoc on Niklaus' and Elijah's love for one another was pandered to and showered with attention.

And now, enter stage right Caroline Forbes.

A nineteen year old beauty queen who could potentially become an actual queen and push Rebekah even further into the shadows.

Francesca was eager to know all about Caroline, after all, every woman and a great deal of men had thrown themselves at the Original Hybrid but no-one had ever seen him catch someone until now.

"Oh, don't worry" Rebekah waves her hand dismissively, showing a nonchalance she didn't actually feel,

"She's a socialite from Virginia here for college break, she'll be gone in two weeks…sooner if Nik gets bored in the bedroom"

Francesca laughs humourlessly, "Thank God, we had enough trouble surviving the first regime change, I was hoping we'd have at least another year to recuperate before having a queen thrown into the mix, bad enough we have_ Katherine Pierce_ sticking her nose into everything"

"Yes" Rebekah slammed her empty glass down on the table with more gusto than she had meant to, was this her sixth hurricane or seventh?

"She is an interfering, life wrecking bitch, ask any of her ex-boyfriends or her last fiancé, my brother Nik"

Francesca laughed again before an alarm went off on her phone, she pulled it from her pocket with a sigh,

"Uh, I have to go handle the latest shipment my people have coming in at the docks…but this has been mutually beneficial hasn't it, we should get lunch sometime"

Rebekah murmured in agreement and rose to her feet, swaying slightly before her healing kicked in and she sobered up, "Definitely" she announces as her parting words, sweeping from the room and down the rickety staircase.

* * *

If she'd thought Bourbon St had been crowded before it was beyond chaotic now.

She had to use her vampire strength to push her way through the crowds, she couldn't find anyone in the press of flesh, could barely determine whether the people that were knocking her every which way were human or supernatural.

She fought her way to the Manor, where an exceedingly long line of people from both worlds were waiting impatiently to get in.

Even if they didn't know who the Originals were, everyone knew that the most important people in the city partied here and they wanted the chance to mingle with the powerful.

Rebekah didn't even contemplate setting foot in that line, she marched right up to the archway and would have gone straight through to the courtyard if she hadn't been stopped by a beefcake with more beauty than brains, "Sorry honey" he held up a hand, "Unless you're on the guest list you aren't walking through"

She spluttered with disbelief, "Do you honestly have no bloody idea _who I am_?"

He rolled his eyes, "Look, nothing personal okay, but just because you're a vampire doesn't mean you get a…"

"I'm Rebekah Mikaelson" she stomped her foot, "A bloody Original, now get out of my way before I repaint the archway with your blood"

He paled and stepped aside as she stormed through into the large area where multi-coloured lights shone down on the dance floor filled to the brim while rented red leather sofas gave the exhausted party goers places to sit and two wet bars at either end of the courtyard kept them drunk.

Security was posted at every entrance but at least these fools knew who she was, she leapt up onto the balcony and stared down over the scene of hedonistic pleasure, bitterness overcoming her as she stood apart from it all.

Here she was all bloody alone, _again_.

The party was at its bloody zenith and she could see the familiar blonde head of Caroline Forbes, Captain of the Cheerleading Squad, Miss Mystic Falls, beloved by all.

She was in the middle of the dance floor, wrapped up in Klaus as they ground and swayed together, catching the attention of those around them with their sheer chemistry.

Elijah was in a dark corner, pressed up against Katerina, who had her arms wrapped tight around him as they sought to figure out how long they could go without breathing.

There's a heavy step on the balcony as a man reaches the top stair, he's her height, blonde and heavily muscled with an easy grin,

"Girl as pretty as you shouldn't be on her lonesome" he greets her flirtatiously and she rolls her eyes before he offers her a cocktail,

"Same colour as your pretty eyes" he brags, "Had the bar mix it up myself…careful though" he tells her as she goes to take an experimental sip,

"Had to mix blue absinthe and green curacao to get it just right, I'm worried I might have created the one thing capable of killing an Original"

She giggles and drinks anyway, the taste isn't brilliant but his attempt wins her over,

"So you know who I am then?" she teases, handing the drink to him for a taste, he grimaces and hands it back,

"Of course, saw you earlier, gorgeous blonde supernatural woman, you better believe half the guys in town were trying to get any detail they could on you before you even reached the stage"

He leans closer under the pretence of pointing out a man standing in the crowd glaring up at them,

"See that guy? He's from another wolf pack, he's been trying to figure out a way to get in with you for days…he's going to be furious that I beat him to the punch"

She smiles, flattered and allows him to shift closer and snake his arm around her, "Well, if you know so much about me, perhaps I should know your name?"

He grins and offers her his hand, "Oliver"

She finds herself matching his smile and it isn't long after that she's leading him to her old bedroom where he picks her up, wraps her legs around his waist, pushes her against the wall and kisses her madly while he pushes her panties out of the way.

* * *

The sun was just beginning to rise as Rebekah walked Oliver across the courtyard and kissed him goodbye, he left with a grin, still buttoning up his shirt. She yawned and tugged on her dress, pulling the hemline down as she re-entered the house.

She heard a familiar giggle and followed the sound to the study where she first saw her eldest brother's bare foot, it was dangling off the end of the couch that usually decorated the upstairs parlour, he had an arm tucked under his head as he lay across the leather seats wearing an undershirt and his suit pants with a blanket thrown haphazardly over his body and Katherine Pierce curled up atop him. His jacket and shirt were draped over the desk with Katherine's heels, he looked utterly relaxed

"Morning little sister" he murmurs cheerfully.

The sentiment is echoed by Nik who is lying on the other couch with Caroline Forbes stretched out beside him, the two of them snuggling under a doona, both of them facing the coffee table between the two couches where a board game was surrounded by several empty liquor bottles,

"What on _earth_ are you doing?!" she asks as Katherine drowsily turns her head to observe her,

"We are now in our sixth hour of Monopoly" she explains as Elijah kisses her head,

"With less than a dozen moves between the four of us and no clear idea of who owns what…apparently this is _not_ a game you can play drunk"

Caroline is snuggling with Klaus as Rebekah pulls over an armchair and sits down, tucking her legs underneath her so that nobody realises that her panties are still in her bedroom,

"Did you have fun last night?" the young vampire asks sweetly but Rebekah is instantly on guard,

"What do you mean?" she demands but Caroline doesn't take the bait, Elijah does,

"Perhaps that we saw you disappearing with that man last night…heard you too, the walls here are abominably thin"

"Fraternising with a werewolf" Nik taunted as he reached over Caroline for the dice, Rebekah felt her temper flare up,

"Yes, just like _mother_ did all those years ago"

The atmosphere in the room immediately grew tense but after a moment Niklaus laughed it off,

"Truer words were never spoken" he rolled the dice,

"Ah, I have twelve…Caroline sweetheart"

"Go to Jail" she announced, "Go directly to jail, you are a heinous criminal and you are long overdue for jail"

Elijah chuckled, "My brother…you are quite the repeat offender you must have a wondrous cellmate"

Katherine snickered, "Maybe its Rebekah's werewolf"

The four of them dissolved into quiet laughter and Rebekah felt her cheeks burn in humiliation, her brothers always did this, always made her feel like a slattern when they took far more lovers than she did.

"Or perhaps it's you" she snapped at the doppelganger,

"God knows you're never happy unless you're sleeping with as many brothers as you can seduce! It'd certainly explain why you're allowed to decorate the entire house with your bloody roses!"

Katherine arches an eyebrow but doesn't respond, apparently content to watch the female Original smoulder with anger. Her eldest brother doesn't share that desire,

"She didn't purchase the flowers" Elijah explained curtly, propping himself up on both elbows so that he can face her,

"I did, my fiancé loves Bulgarian roses and I wanted to do something kind for her. That is the very nature of love Rebekah, kindness"

Tears burned in her eyes and she stormed off down the hall, slamming her bedroom door behind her.

She hears the shifting of the doona, "Who owns the water works again?" Klaus asks.

* * *

Francesca wakes up with a dull hangover and the gritty feeling of make-up still on her face.

By midday she's washed and recovered slightly but still hoping for a lazy day even though she knows she should be walking every inch of the French Quarter and garnering what information she can.

She's still dreaming of wearing sneakers for the day when the secret panel in her bedroom opens and her hand reaches under her pillow for her handgun before the familiar face steps through,

"_Jesus_" Francesca rests the gun in her lap, "You know when I told you about the secret passageways it wasn't so you could scare me to death"

Celeste shrugs, "Sorry but I just came back from Whitmore and wanted to know how everything was going here"

Francesca sighs and rubs her face tiredly, "Well, Rebekah finally showed up with a chip on her shoulder the size of Louisiana. Caroline Forbes arrived yesterday as well, as Bonnie Bennett said she would. I haven't had the chance to speak to her yet but Klaus seems ridiculously smitten, almost as much as Elijah is with Katherine Pierce"

She enjoys the momentary pain that flashes over Celeste's features, before going in for the kill,

"By the way, every time we've tried to break them up thus far they've just fallen more in love with each other, although the engagement is travelling along without any signs of progress"

The witch in front of her drew a ragged breath before composing herself, "Right well, Katherine is our first target, she's the least able to defend herself in a fight and considering the centuries of distrust between her and the Originals, it shouldn't be hard to convince them all that they're conspiring against one another"

"Rebekah _hates_ her" Francesca adds helpfully, "She can be used against Katherine, and hopefully if she gets caught doing so it will drive a wedge between the siblings. They're Mikaelson's after all" she laughs scornfully, "Sons and daughters of Mikael, hatred and distrust of each other is in their very blood"

Celeste rests a knee on the bed, "That's good, after Katherine we take out Elijah or maybe even overlap the two…after all, a heartbroken man? No-one will question irrational behaviour from him and he'll have to be acting pretty crazy before Klaus notices something out of the ordinary. Better still, if he's distracted and Caroline turns out to be more than a casual booty call for Klaus, he'll be vulnerable on two fronts…three if we can get something on Erik's nanny"

She waves her hand, "But I'm getting ahead of myself, what about Oliver? How'd he go?"

"Better than expected!"

The werewolf in question ambles into the room, holding a large takeaway coffee in hand,

"Been waiting for you to come out" he grumbles to Francesca,

"But anyway, I didn't make friends with Klaus last night but I did bone Rebekah if that helps"

Celeste and Francesca both raise their eyebrows but decline to warn Olly about Niklaus' unfortunate habit of killing his sister's less worthy suitors. Still, something troubles him,

"There's a new wolf in town" he reveals, "More than one actually, possibly a pack moving on our territory. Since Klaus did jack-shit for us, despite Hayley being one of us and the kid being royalty and whatnot we're still pretty exposed out there, 'specially since we know nothing about the bastard"

Francesca shrugs, "Help us take out Klaus and I'll gives werewolves the run of New Orleans" she promises.

Of course she'll slaughter every last member of the Crescent Pack and maybe torture Olly to death as punishment for working against his alpha but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

It would kill him.

And when the time came.

Hopefully it would kill the Original family as well.

* * *

A/N- Here we go. Also I'm tempted to write a one-shot about Marcel mourning his 'little sister's death' After all, he's been compelled to forget everything he knows about her so he'll believe that she is dead like everyone else, but the one time he held her he did it with such affection and he was willing to be compelled- something he's been fighting against from the get go- to protect her. And now he's the one being blamed for her murder but unable to mourn!


	7. Caroline III

A/N- A voila!

Thank-you to everyone who took the time to review, it means a lot to me!

* * *

For the first time in a week, there was quiet in _Le Coeur Du Jardin_.

No parties were being thrown, no balls were being held.

The garden wasn't lit up with multi-coloured lanterns so the beautiful people could drink and dine underneath the stars.

The ball room wasn't filled with the sound of swishing skirts and string quartets.

The ground floor parlour didn't have numerous rose filled vases vying for space amongst silver trays filled with hors d'oeuvres and endless cups of tea and coffee.

The dining room was empty of celebrities and witty banter.

It was three o'clock on a Thursday morning and most of the inhabitants of the Garden District mansion were in bed.

Although that didn't necessarily mean that they were asleep.

Caroline had been tossing and turning for the better part of two hours now and after a fitful doze, wakes up at five am, sees the tendrils of light sneaking past the heavy curtains and gives up with an irritated huff.

She rolls over, determined not to suffer through her insomnia alone to belatedly realise that the other side of the gargantuan bed was empty.

She reaches over and drops her hand on the thick doona and amazingly soft sheets, enjoying the sensation of the silk on her palm, but deciding she would much prefer to feel the rough cotton of the shirt Klaus slept in.

Because she has grown used to sleeping beside the Original Hybrid.

It was strange for the first few days, getting accustomed to sharing the space with another person but it gave her insight into the man who loved her.

Klaus never slept naked, which could be quite irritating if she woke up in the middle of the night wanting sex and had to get him undressed, he slept in track pants and a white cotton shirt that he seemed to have owned since at least 1942. He didn't immediately throw on his clothes after sex but once he figured that she was done for the night he'd slip into the comfortable outfit.

She had packed some sexy nightgowns for the trip but now she wore her regular boxers and old t-shirt.

It was very relaxed between the two of them, comfortable.

Well, emotionally anyway.

Physically…

Caroline suspected Klaus might be a stage one hoarder.

The first night she'd been stretching her hands under her pillow, enjoying the luxurious softness and her fingers had collided with a sketch book that he'd apparently forgotten about.

The morning they'd come home from the impromptu Monopoly game in Bourbon St, they'd been having lazy hangover sex when Caroline's knee had been impaled with a pencil.

She'd given the sheets a good shake-out after that and rid the bed of any artistic material and an eighteenth century copy of Dunn's poetry that Klaus didn't even remember owning in the first place and could now sleep without immediate fear of death.

Fear of disturbance on the other hand...

Klaus tended to sleep on his stomach and was an exceptionally quiet, peaceful sleeper, although occasionally he would tense and stop breathing for a few minutes which had panicked her at first, now she just waited patiently for him to inhale again. If she was feeling cuddly he would wrap an arm around her and draw her close but otherwise left her undisturbed while he slept. But if he was feeling horny all bets were off, she could wake up to the lightest touch across her stomach or halfway through an orgasm with his head under the sheets.

As she had yesterday morning.

She sighs and rubs her thighs together. Wonderful, she was hot for the missing hybrid.

With a frustrated sigh she sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed shakes her hair back, uncovering her ears so that she could listen to the sounds of the night.

There were three steady heartbeats in the house. Katherine, Baby Erik and his nanny were all asleep.

There were two slower heartbeats, the dull thud of hearts pumped with stolen blood.

Elijah in his bedroom upstairs and Rebekah in hers at the other end of the house.

There was one final heartbeat accompanied by the slither of paint on canvass.

Bingo.

Klaus had an art studio at the front of the house, on the second floor so he could catch the sunrise.

That wasn't to say that he didn't have easels scattered around the house and the tools of the trade in several different rooms, but this was his official studio where entry was strictly invitation only and where Caroline assumed he retreated when he needed to think.

She barely brushes her knuckles on the door, waiting breathlessly, still terrified of rejection but the response came barely a second later,

"Come in love"

She slips into the room, noting the golden hour was upon them and Klaus stood with his back to the window, holding the brush between two fingers as he looked up at her.

He had a streak of purple across his forehead and Caroline would wager her tuition that he hadn't so much as mixed red and blue together since he'd started painting.

She'd learnt pretty quickly that the colours that ended up on Klaus' skin or clothes and the ones he actually used that day never coincided.

"I didn't wake you?" he queried as she leant against the door, she shook her head,

"I can't sleep" she whispered, enjoying the quiet of the house, the sensation that the world beyond the door didn't really exist at this hour.

It was just the two of them.

She nodded at the canvass, "What are you painting?"

He frowned, "I'm not sure yet, hopefully not another snowflake"

She giggles and moves forward, feeling mischievously sexy,

"You could paint me" she suggests as she lifts her t-shirt over her head and drops it on the floor, baring her breasts to him with confidence that she had never felt before starting college and realising her self-worth and value.

Confidence that only grows when she sees the effect she has on the powerful hybrid.

He eyes her hungrily, stepping out from behind the easel and closing the distance between them, his hand comes up to cup her right breast, squeezing and pinching the nipple, smirking when she gasps and pushes onto her toes to give him better access.

He lowers his head and kisses both her nipples, running his tongue over them before stepping backward.

"Oh I could never paint you nude sweetheart, I'm far too greedy to share…but if you wouldn't mind posing so I could commit you to memory?"

Caroline laughs and curls up on an armchair where she can see the canvas.

At first glance she sees a forest lit up by a breath-taking sunset.

At second glance she sees the outline for a village built beside a wide river.

She sees the tents and even with only a basic middle-school education about Native Americans she can recognise the wattle and daub houses that would have been used on the land that would eventually become Mystic Falls.

It really was a shame that Alaric had died before they had managed to call truce with the Originals, the history buff in him would have loved the chance to question the tenth century Vikings about every aspect of their human lives.

"So why can't you sleep my love?" Klaus asks as he squats to rummage through his paint shelves where the pigments that cost more than Katherine's shoe collection were housed.

She shrugs, "I don't know I just feel restless…weird you know, like I've forgotten something or I have to be somewhere"

He frowns and tilts his head curiously, "Why on earth would you have to be somewhere at this hour? Unless you've booked an international flight and neglected to tell me"

"Damn, that's it" she deadpans, "I booked a one way flight to New Zealand, have a nice life"

He grins, "I've never been to New Zealand but I have heard lovely things about it" he shrugs,

"Send me a postcard then"

Caroline had been partially expecting declarations that he would follow her to the ends of the earth but they had moved past that intense stage of their courtship.

And she likes this stage.

She enjoys feeling like an adult when she wakes up next to him in the morning, the casual way they'll go for coffee or stroll around the town while he shows her his favourite haunts and the famous sites. They aren't going on dates anymore it's more intimate and somehow more relaxed than that.

Her heart flutters when she sees him dressed up and she loves how his jaw drops when she wears something beautiful but any nervousness she might have felt- okay, that she did feel when she was driving to NOLA- is gone.

But she does notice how easily she's fitting into life in New Orleans and every time she checks the large calendar Katherine stuck on the kitchen wall to try and coordinate the Mikaelson siblings and sees an event she would love to attend that takes place after her two week holiday is due to end, there's a part of her brain that teases her with the idea of a deferred semester.

Nope.

That won't be happening.

She's going to enjoy the rest of the week and then drive on back to Virginia thank-you very much.

So why does she feel so…

"Caroline!"

She nearly jumps out of her skin and sits up as Klaus takes her by the shoulders and gives her a gentle shake, "What?!"

His eyes are bright with worry, "I've been talking to you for the last five minutes love and you haven't uttered a word, I thought you were asleep but your eyes have been wide open"

She blinks, finally noticing how dry her eyes felt, "I…" she swallows and wraps her arms around herself, suddenly feeling very exposed,

"Something's wrong Klaus" she murmurs, "I don't know what but something…"

The doorknob creaks as it's opened and Klaus flashes across the room to grab her t-shirt, throwing it to her and blocking her from view as she hurriedly puts it on.

Katherine Pierce sweeps into the room wearing a silk nightgown that could easily double as a dress for a red carpet event. Despite having been asleep when Caroline last checked, she manages to look like she's just finished being made up for a photo shoot, her hair is deliciously rumpled and she carries the faint hint of roses into the studio.

She holds out a black phone that Caroline immediately recognises as hers,

"You left this charging in the parlour last night" she explains, looking pale in the morning light, "It's been buzzing incessantly for the last ten minutes"

Caroline grabs the phone just as Elijah comes into the room and drapes a dressing gown over Katherine's shoulders, "Do cover yourself my darling"

She quirks an eyebrow, the gown is decadent and seductive but no less suggestive than the clothes she wears during the day, still she ties the robe around her frame as Caroline checks the number with Klaus looking over her shoulder.

When she doesn't recognise it immediately she frowns and returns the call.

Three rings and then a chirpy voice of a stranger, "_Mystic Falls Hospital, this is Victoria speaking_"

Her blood went cold, "Um hi…this is Caroline F-Forbes, I'm returning a call?"

A pause then, "_Oh yes, hello Caroline. I'm afraid I have some bad news, a Ms Elizabeth Forbes was in a car accident and gravely injured, she was brought in and you are listed as her emergency contact_"

The plastic backing on the phone cracked as all air left Caroline's body, she began to shake violently as she struggled to breathe.

The device is pulled from her hand and she hears a British accent asking several questions and repeating the words 'Yes' or 'and' intermittently.

A glass of water is pressed to her lips and she splutters before sipping the cool liquid.

"I could slap her if you like" a distant voice offers before the familiar tones of one of the doppelgangers colourfully tells that person to go away.

A blonde man with bright blue eyes is standing in front of her and they are suddenly alone as her sleeping gear is removed and her limbs lifted and lowered as new clothes are put on her. Glancing down she sees him slipping ballet flats onto her feet, adjusting the black harem pants at her ankles and tucking her bra strap under her green t-shirt,

"Caroline" he cups her face in his hands, "Look at me…I know you've had a shock sweetheart but I need you to listen"

Klaus kisses her lips quickly, "Elijah is going to drive you to the airport, he has connections there, he will have the very first plane rerouted to Virginia and there will be a car ready and waiting to take you straight through any and all obstacles to the hospital. I will ring them and send through any updates, I'll also get whichever of your friends answers their phone first to stand by your mother's side until you get there. Nod if you understand me"

Tears flood her eyes and blur her vision but she does manage to nod causing him to sigh in relief and take her hand as he led her downstairs, out the front door where the morning light was growing brighter by the minute to the car idling in the driveway.

He tucks her into the front passenger seat and brushes the hair from her face, "Be well sweetheart"

She opens her mouth a few times before finding her words, "Um…my stuff…"

"Katerina will pack it up for you" Elijah tells her from the driver's seat, "She's already put the necessities in your handbag"

She sees the bag in question is sitting on the floor mat at her feet, "Thank her for me" she turns to Klaus, he nods and closes her door,

"I love you" she blurts out through the open window as the car begins reversing quickly.

She catches a glimpse of shock on his face.

She's too consumed with worry for her mother to fully realise what she had just said.

* * *

"Here"

True to Klaus' word, Elijah has half the staff at the airport rushing to fill his orders.

A flight that was intended for Bahrain is now making an unscheduled stop for Virginia and he guides her to the waiting area outside the gate as the plane is readied.

She is jiggling her knees nervously and glancing at her phone when the attendant marches over to inform them that they are able to board.

She climbs to her feet shakily and Elijah takes her arm, "I am sure that everything will be alright Caroline"

On impulse she hugs him, desperate for any form of comfort and he woodenly pats her on the back,

"Thank Klaus for me" she says, giggling with a touch of hysteria when she realises she has nearly echoed her request from earlier,

"But I don't love you I'm sorry"

Elijah's smirk is so much like his brother's, "Katerina will be glad to hear that at least"

He guides her right into her first class seat and the plane is rolling down the runway with only a third of its passengers on board ten minutes later.

She is watching the window and drumming her fingers impatiently, absolutely certain that the plane is going far too slow.

Her mother needs her dammit.

Deciding that air safety regulations could go to hell she is rummaging through her handbag she belatedly realises that she left her phone on the seat in the airport terminal.

Hopefully Elijah picked it up.

* * *

_"Stefan it's me. If you do not pick up your phone and call me back in the next two minutes I will kill you and everyone you've ever met"_

_"Elena. Sheriff Forbes has been in an accident, get yourself and your whores to Mystic Falls General immediately if you wish to live"_

_"Jeremy. Yes I have your number, I also have the impatience of a homicidal psychopath. Sheriff Forbes has been in an accident, tell the vampire closest to you that they needed to be at her bedside thirty seconds ago"_

Klaus stands glaring at the three cell phones sitting on the dining room tables.

His, Katherine's and Rebekah's. Elijah, ever the calm and collected gentleman had managed to leave for the airport not only dressed in a three piece suit but with the full assortment of keys, wallet and phone.

He had called every supernatural in Mystic Falls and had not yet received a single response. His frustration was mounting, Caroline was frantic with fear for her mother and he was unable to help her.

He knew the terror she was feeling, he had felt it when Hayley and his son had been kidnapped.

Katherine is sitting across from him, her arms leaning on the table in a decidedly ungraceful posture as she watches him worriedly,

"Something is wrong" she tells him and he resists the urge to rip her throat out in frustration,

"Really, you don't say!" he snaps but she doesn't take the bait,

"Something feels wrong" she continues, "It doesn't add up, why the hell is no-one answering their phones? It's early but if Caroline's mom has been injured…Damon adores Liz, he at least should be answering"

Klaus waves a hand impatiently, he doesn't have time for her stupidity, he demands the number for the hospital and she reels it off automatically,

"_Mystic Falls General Hospital, Front desk this is Claire speaking_"

He sighs in relief, "Hello Claire, this is Klaus I'm enquiring about a patient who was brought in this morning. Sheriff Forbes"

"_Um…okay, one second_"

He's not placed on hold, instead the fleshy sound of a hand being placed over the receiver reaches his ears as the woman tries to mute the hum of conversation,

"_Okay I'm back_" she tells him unnecessarily, "_I'm afraid there's been some miscommunication, Liz…Sheriff Forbes hasn't been brought in this morning, no-one has…May I ask who's calling?_"

Someone with the ability to burn that one horse town to the ground if he doesn't get the information he requires.

"You're mistaken" he tells her through gritted teeth, "Check your records this time, not the underpaid co-worker sitting next to you. I want an update on her condition and to speak to whichever surgeon is handling her case or so help me I will…"

"_Hang on_" the woman interrupts him before his wondrous eloquence in describing violent torture could strike fear into her heart. He hears the phone being handed over and then a familiar tone filters down the line,

"_This is Sheriff Forbes, how can I help?_"

Katherine sits up in confusion which Klaus is sure mirrors his own,

"Sheriff?" he blurts the word in disbelief, "You sound remarkably well for a woman who was grievously injured in a car accident"

"_Klaus?!_" There it is, the disapproval and barely veiled hate, definitely Caroline's mother,

"_What the hell are you talking about?"_

"Caroline…she received a call this morning from the hospital stating that you were there as a…patient"

The last word falls dead from his lips as the spiel from one hour earlier plays back through his head,

_Mystic Falls Hospital, this is Victoria speaking…_

_A Ms Elizabeth Forbes…_

_You are listed as her emergency contact…_

The proper title, the title Claire had given him was Mystic Falls General Hospital.

Everyone in the small town knew who Sheriff Forbes was and called her by her position or by her nickname, and Caroline would have been listed as her next of kin, not her emergency contact, not when she lived several hours away at Whitmore.

"_Listen to me" he orders as chills run down his spine, "Caroline is headed back to Mystic Falls but I think she's being led into a…_"

His sentence is cut off as the sound of an explosion roars down the line separating him from the mother of the woman he loved. It is followed by the sound of screams but then…

The line goes dead.

* * *

A/N- So this progressed faster than I thought it would, I apologise for any incorrections regarding hospital procedure in this chapter.


	8. Elena II

A/N- Hello everyone! Man updating comes so easily to me when I have a two thousand word assignment due in two days.

My thanks to all the lovely reviews, especially Avalon The Lady Killer, your last review actually gave me the inspiration for the next Katherine chapter.

Also, I'm getting a lot of emails that people are 'following' me or 'favouriting' me, is there anywhere I can check these numbers? I can seem to find it in my profile.

Now I know everyone here is a huge Klaroline fan but this event is happening in MF so we are going to pay some attention to Elena- who I try to capture as both sweet but not exactly the sharpest fang in the mouth.

Anyhow- this chapter is rated M- seriously rated M.

* * *

The water was sparkling under the weak afternoon sun as Elena frolicked in the water with the two men she loved the most.

She, Stefan and Damon were playing some form of tag that was less catching the other person and more gentle tugs on ankles and hands as they swam through the lake.

No longer needing to breathe as often as a living human, Elena allowed herself to sink to the very bottom of the body of water and buried her feet into the soft silt as she opened her eyes and saw herself in another world.

One in which the light barely penetrated and creatures she didn't even know existed crawled in the near darkness.

There's a disturbance above her head and she looks up to see two pairs of legs and then one completely naked body as Damon is forcibly pushed down into the lake and nearly reaches her outstretched hand before kicking his way back to the surface.

She rolls her eyes and ignores the sting of the water as she contemplates swimming back up into the world.

For a moment she wants to re-enact the scene from the Pirates of the Caribbean but figures there's no point when she doesn't have a camera or anyone to appreciate it.

When she comes up for air she's nearly brained by a paddle from her families canoe, she uses her supernatural strength to propel herself out of the way in time and once safe, glares at the two supposedly grown adult men in front of her who are clearly pretending the paddles are swords.

Stefan clears his throat, "Sorry, are you okay?"

She glares and crosses her arms, which is a lot more effective when she isn't treading water and completely naked,

"Really? Why can't you two ever find a hobby that doesn't involve hitting each other with something?"

Damon points his paddle straight at Stefan, "He started it"

She rolls her eyes again, "Real mature Salvatore, last I checked- _you're_ the older brother!"

He shrugs, "You're the older sister but I hear you blame Jeremy for shit all the time, hell last weekend you blamed him for global warming"

Elena tries stamping her foot but loses her balance and nearly goes under the water again, "I didn't blame him for global warming entirely, I just pointed out that maybe he should be less wasteful of our natural resources"

Damon and Stefan share a look and she can see that the memory of the half hour debate/argument between her and Jeremy is still fresh in their mind and about to be brought up for reconsideration.

Well, she knows how to stop them in their tracks.

"I'm going inside" she threatens, diving under the waterline and swimming barely five metres before a hand snakes around her ankle and drags her squealing into Stefan's back,

"We're sorry" he pouts, kissing her shoulder, "Very sorry"

Damon floats until he's brushing up against her, "We are" he agrees, smirking as he cups her face, pushing her hair out of the way,

"How about we make it up to you?"

Both of her men are naked and their bodies, particularly their lower halves are making their desire for her known, her own body feels flushed and she wraps an arm around Damon's neck for support,

"Kiss me" she demands and he lowers his head to hers, his lips parting hers and his tongue sneaking into her mouth while Stefan continues kissing her bare back and pushes her hair over her left shoulder for better access to her neck.

She's exceptionally thankful that she had her hair cut in New York, long hair is pretty and all but irritating as hell in water and during sex, sticking to her body, getting in the way…

She breaks Damon's kiss with a moan and tilts her head back so Stefan can kiss her while his brother focuses his attention on her now exposed breasts, his tongue plunders her mouth and she spreads her legs wide open as two hands start eagerly snaking down over her stomach, playing with her curls,

"How are we going to do this?" she asks as she breaks for air, slinging her free arm behind her head and wrapping it around Stefan's neck to bring both men closer to her and keep her balance.

Damon's mouth is on her left breast, sucking and teasing the nipple as Stefan's fingers tease her clit,

"Same way we do everything" he laughs as his erection presses into her back, "Go in blind and hope we figure it out"

She laughs and then moans as Damon's fingers slip inside her, searching for her g-spot and she tilts her head back for another kiss from Stefan as she quivers with pleasure.

She can feel Stefan guiding himself to her entrance and he thrusts in slowly before withdrawing and sliding backwards, she feels momentary worry before Damon's kissing her, distracting her while Stefan plays with her ass.

Usually when she's with both of her men, Stefan takes her from the front and Damon has her from behind because even though Damon is longer, Stefan is thicker, but they haven't been together like this for long and she hasn't been with Damon for so long that she will gladly take this change in program.

She nips Damon's lower lip and wraps her legs around his waist, "Now" she begs and he quickly enters her, both of them groaning at the pleasant sensation, Stefan is breathing in her ear, his fingers probing, "Are you ready Elena?"

She nods and kisses the corner of his mouth as he slowly slides inside, she winces at the momentary discomfort but it fades and she's left feeling wonderfully complete.

"Never apart" she whispers.

She made that oath for them that challenge and war cry.

She's missed this so much, their unholy trinity.

Both men are gentle but thorough and she surrenders to the pleasure, her second climax bringing the three of them to release. Their desire heats the very water around them and when they clamber onto the shore, the whole world seems brighter and clearer.

* * *

The small fire has died down but when she emerges from the house wearing tracksuit pants and her university hoodie Damon and Stefan have built it into a pretty decent bonfire with a long piece of metal set up in the middle.

"We should totally have a roast for dinner" Stefan suggests as Damon sets up the pile of dry twigs and logs away from the shoreline but Elena disagrees.

"First night at the cabin is always pizza night" she explains, "Jeremy once refused to get out of the car when mom tried feeding us minestrone instead"

And she'd taken her sleeping bag into the forest and been determined to sleep there until pizza night was reinstated.

"Jeremy and Matt are bringing more s'mores ingredients" she offers instead, only to have Damon make a face,

"American desserts today are too sweet" he complains, "Seriously, half the time I grab a drink my brain goes into shock from their damn sugar intake"

"Maybe you should stop live feeding" Stefan suggests cheekily as the three of them settle down to watch the blue and orange flames, Damon snarls,

"I would if you would stop pumping sugar water into the blood bags"

Elena giggles and leans her head against Damon's shoulder, enjoying the tranquillity of the day.

When Jeremy and Matt arrive that night, they bring five large pizzas but only themselves. Elena waves them over to the fire and looks in vain for Bonnie behind them.

But she's nowhere to be found.

"Where's Bonnie?" she asks curiously, as Matt sits down and opens the first box, pepperoni is her favourite and she takes a slice eagerly.

Damon however, is not as easily distracted, "Judgy not making an appearance this week?"

Matt is caught with his mouth open, he hums and haws before casting a guilty glance to Jeremy,

"Nope" is all Elena's brother has to say about Bonnie once again refusing to socialise with her best friend.

That night, both of her men hold her as she cries.

* * *

There's no set routine at the lake house, breakfast is whenever someone decides to start cooking it and lunch is pretty much when Matt gets hungry, otherwise it's just long hours on hammocks piled under blankets for the cold weather, long hikes through the forest or just sitting on the porch and enjoying the peace and quiet.

For most of them anyway.

However, Elena can't help but notice that Damon takes to furtively checking his cell phone and driving into the General store once a day on the pretext of buying groceries or live feeding but comes back more and more frustrated and casting meaningful glances to Stefan as soon as he's out of the car, sometimes followed by a shake of the head or a nod.

And she instinctively knows that when Matt's car won't start and his boss at the Grill doesn't wail on him for not being able to make his shift but actually extends his time off for an extra week because 'he's such a dedicated worker' that Damon is behind it.

When Jeremy rings Bonnie and invites her up for the weekend because there's going to be a music festival only an hour drive away and Stefan got them all last minute tickets only to be refused because she's 'too busy', Elena sees Damon's grim face and knows that whatever is happening could involve her best friend.

So the morning of the festival she invites everyone for an early walk just as Jeremy and Matt sit down for an x-box game, figuring that they'll bow out in favour of beating their imaginary characters bloody.

They barely make a mile into the forest before she spins on her heal and glares at them both,

"Okay" she blows out her breath, "We're out of range of everyone who could possibly be around, what's going on?"

Both brothers shoot each other a guilty glance before opening their mouths but she holds up a hand,

"No lies" she demands, "Don't even think of trying to protect me, I can look after myself…tell me what is wrong!"

Stefan sighs and jams his hands into his pockets while Damon's jaw clicks, she maintains her ground, standing with the men she loves in the forest, the trees overheard allowing little dapples of sunlight to make their way onto their bodies, the soft ground underneath and the critters and creatures in distance.

Damon is dressed in his usual dark colours, forgoing a jacket because there's no outsiders around to wonder why he isn't cold. Stefan almost his complete opposite in cargo pants and a red jacket she bought for him last Christmas because she'd wanted him to look festive.

She didn't realise it this morning but she'd picked up on their nerves and dressed herself as if she was going into a fight.

Combat boots, jeans, leather jacket and her hair tied back in a rare ponytail. She was on edge and if a rogue vampire attacked her right now- unlikely, even with her luck- she'd definitely stand a chance.

After all, she'd won against Katherine.

So she stands there waiting patiently for one of them to give in first.

She's honestly surprised when it's Damon,

"Ever since you, Blondie and Sabrina went off to college, good ole Mayor Hopkins has been plotting something" he admits in a terse voice,

"We don't know what it is exactly" Stefan continues, "Only that he disbanded the last council and formed a new one, no founding family members allowed, all people who lost either a family or friend to a supernatural death"

She nods, following along so far, understanding why this is bad.

Damon had controlled the council right up until Pastor Young had staged the coup and tried to kill them all before taking his own life.

After, he'd had a seat but Liz had ruled everything- which had still worked in their favour- primarily the Founding Family members wanted to protect and preserve the town they'd built and were always keen to take the path of least resistance provided nobody got hurt or killed.

Mayor Hopkins was an outsider however, someone who'd stayed around only until Bonnie's mom had bailed and then left his daughter to be raised by Grandma Sheila. He'd come back only because a dozen people before him had turned down the position for mayor and Liz had got desperate.

Since that day, he'd made it clear that he detested any and all supernatural creatures- except for his daughter of course.

But Elena can also see things from Mayor Hopkins perspective, the council was originally founded to protect the humans of Mystic Falls, and at one point it was headed by Damon, Liz and Carol whose primary interest had been protecting the supernaturals in the town. At least with his council members he wouldn't have to worry about them bending over backwards to accommodate them.

Although she sincerely hoped he didn't decide to throw vervein in the water supply again.

Which reminded her.

"What about the treaty?" she asks, shifting her weight as her feet start to get cold.

"The one Katherine had him agree to- peaceful coexistence and whatnot?"

During the Silas debacle, Katherine had met with Mayor Hopkins and Liz to arrange for Rebekah to be fished out of the safe in the Quarry and somehow had ended up negotiating a peace treaty between him and them.

Bonnie's dad wouldn't hunt the vampires and they wouldn't hunt humans, they wouldn't kill humans and he wouldn't kill them.

She'd even added the bonus of the Original family promising to call ahead every time they were headed their way and making Mystic Falls a no-go zone for supernatural creatures.

Stefan raises his eyebrows, "I don't think we've broken it so far, we haven't killed anyone at least…Damon?"

He rolls his eyes, "No I haven't killed anyone Stef-an"

"So he has to honour the treaty right!" Elena interrupts before her men start bickering, "If we don't kill anyone he can't harm us"

Both Salvatore's give her an identical look of love and pity.

She's always had the most hope and idealism out of all of them. if Klaus can honour the deals they lay out with him, then surely Bonnie's dad can…

Oh.

Suddenly she can't remember how to breathe and the world seems as if it's spinning all too fast.

Elena leans backwards and her bum finds the rough bark of a tree that scratches through her jeans.

She press her feet into the earth to ground herself as Stefan comes forward and rubs her shoulder gently, Damon hovering as he tries not to be his usual abrupt self.

It's not that he doesn't care, it's that he's not one for denial.

Elena is however.

She shakes her head, "Bonnie would never do anything like that" she argues, "We're her friends, her family; she loves us"

"She loves you" Stefan assures her, "But you can't deny that the last semester was tense, she's angry at you and Caroline for the choices you've made"

She's angry that Elena had scorned the world and taken two men, two brothers as her lovers.

She's angry that Caroline had decided to give her feelings for Klaus a chance and gone to New Orleans to be with him.

"There's anger and then there's hunting us!" She looks to Damon, "That's why you kept trying to lure her here isn't it, you wanted to see if she's working with her father"

He grinds his teeth and looks into the forest, glaring at the foliage, "All we know right now is that Hopkins is probably planning something and Bonnie might know what it is"

She sighs and takes their hands, leading them out of the forest,

"I don't think Bonnie would work against us" she tells them firmly, "But even if she does…We have Jeremy and Matt on our side…even if she hates me, she loves them both too much to risk their lives"

* * *

The festival that night is wild and wonderful enough to make them forget their worries.

The bands are great and Elena loses sight of her brother and Matt, panicking for a solid half hour before she finds them under an ancient oak with some hacky-sack hipsters sharing a cigarette and whisky while discussing American politics.

She rolls her eyes and heads back to the stage area where Stefan and Damon are drinking from red cups and comparing notes about Woodstock, not that either of them remember it all too well but Damon was hanging backstage with the bands while they haggled over being paid and Stefan vaguely recalls being in the crowd with Lexie trying to figure out if the rioting would start before or after the mass dehydration set in.

Caught up in the moment, Elena's handbag is now filled with the CDs of all the bands that are playing that night, and a few numbers from some of the guitarists and singers- male and female- that she shows her men to make them jealous.

Both of them manage to maintain their semblance of pride and dignity although barely ten minutes later the scraps of paper have been shredded into confetti at her dancing feet.

The five of them squeeze every moment of pleasure from the night, not realising that it will be the last time they are ever truly carefree and happy together.

* * *

They get home around five am and despite their determination to climb into bed, none of them seem to make it past the living room.

Their phones are either low on battery or left in handbags or jacket pockets, forgotten as they relive their best memories from the night as they curl up in hammocks or pass out on couches.

Elena wakes up around eight and feeling thirsty, grabs herself one of the blood bags Damon had stored in the veggie crisper in the fridge, convenient for the vampires and out of sight for the humans.

He had absolutely no faith in Jeremy or Matt's concern for their nutrition.

She drinks slowly as she decides to upload the awesome photos from last night onto her facebook page.

She grabs her phone from her handbag and sees there's barely enough battery life left before she drops her gaze and dread clenches her heart.

She has eight missed calls.

In her world, that means something is wrong.

Her panic gets worse when she sees that the calls are all from Klaus, Katherine or Rebekah.

Oh God.

Caroline!

"Damon, Stefan!" her voice has them stumbling into the kitchen,

"What's wrong?!" Damon asks as Elena accesses her voicemail.

"_Elena. Sheriff Forbes has been in an accident, get yourself and your whores to Mystic Falls General immediately if you wish to live" _

Damon flashes to the living room and grabs his car keys, "On my way"

Elena follows him to the Camaro, climbing into the passenger side before realising that she's bare foot.

Never mind, she can grabs some shoes back at the Boarding House.

Stefan climbs into the backseat as Damon revved the engine and kicked up dust as he reversed down the dirt road and onto the highway.

"I left a note for Matt and Jeremy" Stefan says as they sped down the empty road, "They can follow later"

Elena's hands shook as her phone rang and she answered it immediately, not even checking the number, "Caroline?"

The reception was so bad she could barely recognise the voice on the other end,

"_Ka…er…ne_"

"Katherine" she raised her voice even though she knew that it wouldn't help, "We got the message, we were at the lake house, we're headed back now"

The reply is so garbled she can only make out the words '_Don't_' and '_Stop_'

She rolls her eyes, "We won't stop for red lights" she promises before hanging up.

The trip between the lake house and Mystic Falls is usually two hours, Damon manages to get them there in forty-five minutes, pulling up to the hospital, parking illegally on the curb and storming straight inside.

Stefan hurries after him and Elena is hot on his heels until she notices something out of the corner of her eye.

A man, dressed in camo and with a rifle on his back is headed through the doors to the ER, that in itself isn't a big deal after the spree of 'wild animal attacks' when Damon first came into town, there were now tons of hunters who came into Mystic Falls for the weekend looking for big game.

And typically they ended up in the ER with injuries ranging from broken limbs to accidentally shooting themselves.

But somehow, seeing this man sends a chill up her spine and the way he stares at Stefan as he nods and hurries past him…

Elena lingers in the ambulance bay, watching the man intently, trying to understand what is wrong with the picture until she sees him reach into his pocket and draw out a black object.

Still, her brain is making it out to be a cell phone until she sees the pin on his finger as he throws it underarm into the ER.

"_Look out_!" she screams uselessly almost at the same time as the grenade explodes in the room full of innocent humans and her two vampire men.

The hunter is barely a dozen feet away from her and with practised ease he pulls the rifle from his back and aims it straight for her heart.

Elena's eyes go dark as the monster in her emerges onto her face, her fangs shooting from her gums.

He's looking down the barrel but he never gets to pull the trigger.

She snaps his neck in one fluid movement and stands triumphantly over his dead body.

"Elena!"

Damon races from the building with Liz tucked under his arm and Stefan's limp body thrown over his shoulder. He has a large splinter protruding from his forehead,

"I think Hopkins just made his move" he tells her grimly.

She only nods.

* * *

A/N- I take suggestions and criticisms if you think my work can be improved but 'More Klaroline smut' is not a suggestion people, it doesn't work on the VD writers and it won't work on me, I'm putting as much sex in there for them as I can already.  
If you want more Klaroline smut, check out my other stories  
Alpha Female- Chapters 5&6  
New Paths- Chapters 16&17  
New Lives- Chapters 15&16


	9. Katherine II

A/N- Hey Guys,

So this chapter is dedicated to Avalon the Lady Killer who might as well have written it because they gave me the prompt and prodded my muse in the right direction although this does take a little away from MF I'm afraid.

Also is it weird or just a point of their generation that all the supernatural's in Mystic Falls had each other's number? Up to and including Klaus- did they just take a break from their enmity, pull up a table in the Grill, sit down and program their numbers into everyone's cellphones?  
Oooh, dibs on that one-shot.

* * *

"Caroline, love pick up your damn phone and call me, your mother is fine but you're walking into a trap!"

Katherine stared at the cell phone in her own hand, the moment the explosion had essentially ended the call between Klaus and Sheriff Forbes the Hybrid had tossed the device to her and told her to 'call everyone'

She had tried. Damon wasn't answering his phone, neither was Stefan, Matt or Jeremy.

She had managed to get through to Elena but the reception was so bad she'd only been able to make out that they were at the Lake House.

Not that they would be for long.

The second they heard that there had been an explosion in their town they'd go running back to check the damage and go walking right into the trap.

Probably figuring out full well before they even kicked over the engine that it was a trap but knowing that had never slowed them down any.

In the vain hope that perhaps Elijah's usual proficiency to move heaven and earth for those he cared for had suddenly failed him, Katherine rings her fiance.

"_Katerina_"

In spite of everything, hearing Elijah murmur her name over the phone gave the worried woman a momentary sense of calm.

Until she remembered the reason she was calling him in the first place, "Stop the plane" she tells him urgently, "Get Caroline back here now, it's a trap!"

She can sense more than hear her fiancé coming to a dead stop,

"_I'm at the car now_" he says, dread colouring his voice, "_The plane took off half an hour ago and Caroline left her phone in the waiting lounge_"

She has him on speaker phone so Klaus hears what he is saying and having known the man for centuries, she predicts with perfect accuracy which antique vase he will take from the open glass cabinet and which window he will shatter into smithereens when he hurls it onto the front lawn.

Still, she's annoyed, this is her house too and she's the one who will have to order the repairs.

"We can call the driver waiting for her in Virginia" she points out to the frustrated hybrid,

"Give him a message to relay and have her hop on the first plane back here"

"It'll be too late by then" Klaus roars at her,

"Do you honestly think, knowing full well that her friends could be in danger that she would abandon them? She's not you Katherine!"

"_Niklaus!_" Elijah's voice rings clearly from the cell phone, "_Brother_"

Those two words are admonishment but Klaus only scowls and turns away, his silence allows Elijah to take control of the situation,

"_Firstly we have to determine who is responsible for this attack against Mystic Falls_"

"_Who would do this?_"

"Tyler?" Klaus suggests, "God knows he hates me and would likely be furious to have found out that Caroline was vacationing here"

Katherine shook her head, "No, even he isn't suicidal enough to go up against you and the entire Mystic Falls coven which is what he'd be doing by luring Caroline into a trap. Besides she received a fake call from a woman, whoever does this has allies and since you and I started working on the same side we've lost a lot of our enemies. Tyler doesn't have access to anyone who'd be willing to confront us both"

She is given a small nod of acknowledgement and can hear Elijah driving rapidly through the streets, she knows that he is trying to distract Klaus long enough for him to get home and will gladly aide him in the charade,

"The New Orleans witches?" Klaus offers "Caroline had been feeling restless all morning"

Katherine waved away that option as well, "The witches have no reason to go after Caroline, those that helped during the Silas debacle owe her their lives or freedom and if they were after you, they would have attacked you here where they can use their ancestral magic"

Klaus swears loudly in frustration and flashes upstairs, returning a moment later with his wallet and keys in hand.

Katherine had already figured where he was headed and, unwilling to physically block the front door lest he literally go through her, follows him to the garage,

"Klaus, we made a deal with Hopkins, if you go barging into Mystic Falls without telling him he's going to gather up a hunting party for the coven"

"He probably already has" he tells her, climbing into his convertible, "Think about it, who else is stupid enough and has a high enough opinion of themselves to break a peace treaty and attack the Mystic Falls coven? Possibly knowing full well that doing so pits him against the likes of Damon Salvatore and myself"

She stopped and considered his logic, it made sense, but the idea of Klaus returning to the place that had seen two of his brothers' die unnerved her.

"What if they didn't set the trap for Caroline?" she argues, placing a hand on the door of the convertible and hoping Klaus won't suddenly reverse and cost her a limb,

"What if she's the bait in the hopes of killing you? Hopkins could kill the entire coven one at a time or he could kill you and wipe out hundreds of thousands of vampires at once"

The engine revved threateningly and Klaus was giving her a look that had made entire armies toe the ground and seriously reconsider their allegiances.

Katherine herself is quickly trying to remember whether or not her new found freedom included freedom from torture or threats of death when Elijah's car shoots down the gravelled driveway, effectively blocking Klaus in.

With a sigh of relief she steps backwards, and allows her fiancé to tag in.

"Brother" he flashes to the car and claps a hand on Niklaus' shoulder, his thumb touching his neck.

He does this more often than people realise.

After a childhood of abuse, Niklaus lost the ability to connect with people using physical contact, Elijah quickly figured out that touching his brother calmed him down.

But Caroline Forbes is halfway to a massacre with a spot already reserved for her in a mass grave.

"Katerina is right" he begins, not having heard anything Katherine had said but knowing her intimately enough that he could predict what arguments she would have used.

"You cannot go into Mystic Falls without giving the Mayor reason to attack you and your death will result in the deaths of the entire coven, not to mention a greater part of the New Orleans faction…however, Mayor Hopkins will likely be expecting you to come to Caroline's aid, not I"

At this point of popular culture, Katherine knows that this is termed as a 'record scratch' moment.

Klaus can't enter Mystic Falls without risk of dying, so Elijah offers to go instead.

"No" she tells him as the two men make tracks to the car,

"I'll be in Richmond" Niklaus warns as Katherine pushes him out of the way to get to his brother,

"Are you _insane_?! Have you forgotten that Mystic Falls is where _all_ of your family members go to die…_Elijah_!"

He pulls her into his arms and gives her a quick, hard kiss to her temple,

"I love you my darling, tell Raina that Erik is not to leave her sight until we're safely home. Try to keep our exit from the kingdom hidden until we know when we can return"

"I don't want anyone with the last name Mikaelson anywhere near Virginia!" Katherine exclaimed while Klaus once more got out his phone to try and contact anyone in Mystic Falls.

"I especially don't want the King and Prince outside of New Orleans when half the factions are still in turmoil!"

He hesitates, "Katerina…we can't let our home town be rid of supernatural creatures. If we lose Mystic Falls it makes us look weak, it sends out the message that our friends are vulnerable and so are we. It is an attack on our family and I can't let that happen. Not if we want to rule the Quarter without challenge"

"Fine" she gives him a tight smile, "You go to Virginia, I'll go spend the night with Giacomo"

Giacomo Farnese.

He was one of the greatest knowledge collectors in the supernatural world, if not the greatest. He had been gathering information about every creature, chasing down myths and legends for years as well as compiling compendiums about those he encountered personally.

His love for Katherine was the worst kept secret in New Orleans. His gallantry and chivalry prevented him from attempting to seduce her away from Elijah, hence her fiancé's lack of fear regarding the friendship between him and her.

He grins, "Enjoy the endless poetry about the depths of your eyes then"

"Wait," she grabs his hand, a thought suddenly coming to her,

"In 1864, the Civil War was still raging and slaves were being mistreated worse than ever. I know Damon, somewhere in Mystic Falls there will have been an underground railroad. Find it, it may be your path out of town"

Another fierce kiss and the car is reversing out of the driveway and the sound as it tears along the road roars through the quiet of the Garden District.

She takes a deep breath, wonders if Mother Mary would consider a bribe or the prayer of a lapsed Christian and heads inside.

* * *

Raina Lakes, Erik's babysitter, recommended by Cami, hired by Niklaus and interviewed thoroughly by Elijah and herself is in the nursery with Erik, reading to him from a heavy tome of fairy tales.

She was not to read him anything regarding bad wolves but otherwise, she was given free rein with the young prince.

Knowing exactly what the Original family was and showing surprisingly little judgement.

Of course, it didn't hurt that Niklaus hadn't a single idea of what babysitters usually earned and paid her two hundred dollars an hour.

Usually doubling her wage on the nights when the rest of the family were attending parties and Raina got to study while Erik slept, with a guest room right next door to the nursery.

She was going to be one of the small percentile of university graduates in America who left college without crushing debt.

The woman with the raven hair and bright blue eyes looks up as Katherine lingers on the threshold.

Raven hair, red lips, pale skin. She was Snow White personified but never once had she cast amorous eyes at anyone in the house or dressed to entice.

Which essentially is why, after a long day of watching babysitters in various states of decency and dubious qualifications size up Elijah and contemplate seduction as a means of making their way into the vast, glittering world of the New Orleans elite. Katherine had demanded that they hire Raina on the spot.

"Everything okay?" Raina asks, unthinkingly laying a hand on Erik's back, ready to shield him from any threat that might present itself in this mansion.

Katherine smiles, the woman is unflinchingly loyal and devoted to the child.

"For you and us yes, but you're going to need to stay with Erik all day and protect him. No-one is to come into the manor"

She nods, "If anyone asks where Klaus and Elijah are, I'll say their spending the day in the nursery…I could put something out on social media if you like"

Katherine blinks in confusion, "What?!"

"Facebook, twitter or Instagram" Raina suggests, "Something about 'Sitting down to watch Aladdin with Daddy, Uncle and Baby', one of Francesca's employees is friends with me on facebook so she'll at least think that Klaus and Elijah are here and I've made posts like that before so they won't see it as anything unusual"

A fellow schemer.

Katherine grins, "When this is over, I'm going to tell Klaus that you're being underpaid and deserve a raise"

* * *

Two hours later, in the early afternoon she receives a text.

Klaus has set up base in Richmond, summoning every last vampire in Virginia who knows who he is to his side so that if need be he can launch the worst offensive the South will have seen since the Union soldiers invaded.

Elijah is enroute to Mystic Falls and would be there in an hour, they hadn't been able to stop Caroline from going home.

The driver meeting her at the airport had warned her but she had simply gone to the car rental office, compelled herself into the fastest car they had on hand and broken every road rule to get back to her hometown as fast as humanly possible.

Elijah would gather up every last member of the Mystic Falls coven still alive- Katherine's heart stuttered at that- and get them to safety.

Kicking and screaming if need be but he had carte blanche to kill anyone who got in his way.

Katherine watched intently as Raina and Erik settled down in the sunroom for a Disney movie. She supposed she wouldn't get another opportunity like this.

"I'm headed to Bourbon St" she announced, "To check on some hunting contacts"

Raina nodded, "Cool, we're gonna watch a movie"

She gets a cheerful wave and a babble of happy nonsense from the baby as she throws on her leather jacket and checks her appearance in the mirror before walking out the front door.

* * *

Giacomo Farnese kept a bookstore and café on the corner of Dumaine and Decatur St, on the very edge of the French Quarter and close to Woldenberg Park overlooking Mississippi River which she loved to walk along several times a week.

The bookstore was a front for his supernatural information trading business but he still attracted quite a few regular customers.

Katerina was one of them, he housed the biggest collection of non-English books in the city, his shelves bursting with works from around the world, in their original languages from Chinua Achebe to Tamairangi.

He kept an entire shelf of Bulgarian literature next to a leather couch by the window where, if she so wished, Katerina could spend the afternoon curled up with a book.

She wishes she had that opportunity now, but she steps through the door, enjoying the jangle of the gold bell and sees that the shop has nearly been overrun with Tulane's International student body.

She rolls her eyes and moves around them, ignoring the momentary curiosity of the waitress as she looks for Giacomo.

"Katherine"

The forty year old, prematurely silver haired but still straight backed knight from Renaissance Italy emerges from behind the wooden counter. She smiles and holds out her hand for him to kiss and hold against his heart.

She wishes he loved her a little less so that it might not cause him so much emotional distress but never does he show her even the slightest disappointment.

He tucks her hand under his arm,

"How wonderful to see you today my dear, would you like me to close the shop? Send these ramen eating, op-shop trend setting philistines out onto the street"

She laughs and shakes her head, enjoying the appreciative glances of the men on her long, denim clad legs and the women on the five hundred dollar high heels.

"It's fine Jack" she tells him, "I'm only looking for a distraction, Elijah and Klaus are spending the afternoon watching cartoon characters sing songs and weave magic on a hundred inch screen with Erik"

"Bah" he waves his hand in distaste, "Children…all they do these days is watch television screens and play war games. In my day we had to use our imagination, we wanted to run outside and play"

She snorts, "In your day, in _my_ day, we thought bleeding a person excessively would cure a fever"

He shrugs, "Eh, so a little progress has been made for the better"

She sits down on her couch, the warm leather comfortable as she shrugs off her jacket and lets her mostly bare back rest against the plush seat.

Giacomo admires her exposed skin before clicking his fingers, "I have just received a new order" he tells her, stepping over to the shelf which is already near to overflowing with books, "Under the Yoke by Ivan Vazov" he proudly holds up the shiny cover,

She frowns, she knows the book of course, she bought it from him several months ago. She opens his mouth but he sits down beside her on the couch, pressed up against her as he opens the book and begins reading to her.

He has a charming voice, somehow retaining his Italian accent from all those years ago. She places a hand on his and his green eyes meet hers,

"I was actually here…" she swallows and lowers her voice as much as possible, "I'm looking for someone new to the city, they're looking for me as well"

"Nadia" he interrupts her, lowering his eyes to the pages in front of him. To anyone else they would appear as two people reading together.

"She doesn't use a last name" he whispers, keeping his gaze on the book, "She has your hair and eyes, but she's taller and her gaze could cut through a man's heart at fifty paces"

Katherine feels light headed, "You've…_Giacomo_?"

He shrugs, "The entire town knows that I am in love with you my sweet lady, she sought me out for information, which had I not given willingly she probably would have tortured from me…feisty as her mother she is"

His tone is light and jesting but Katherine still feels chills run down her spine at the thought of Giacomo Farnese being threatened with torture or any sort of injury. This was a man of peace, even during his human life he'd been a humanist and a diplomat rather than a soldier. As a vampire, he'd refused to kill, preferring to feed from a dozen humans rather than drain one, he was courteous to all and because he refused to consider anyone his enemy no-one would think of acting like one to him. Even when Elijah had confronted him after his declaration of love to her, he'd been satisfied to only speak harshly to the man and at worst had menaced him with the idea of exile.

Her daughter was clearly determined to reach her and apparently didn't care who she hurt along the way.

Giacomo takes her hand and caresses her palm, "I am alright sweet lady"

She nods and swallows, "I don't suppose that my…Nadia…that she left you with contact details"

He grins, "But of course, I insisted on her number and told her that I would send her a text the very second you walked in her unaccompanied"

The doorbells jingle and Katherine is facing away but somehow, she knows.

She takes a stuttering breath but can't bring herself to turn around, as long as she continues staring out the window, with the glimpse of the wide river before her she can exist in this moment, this moment of infinite hope and fear.

Giacomo jerks his head and she can hear the sound of the heeled boots as her child slips through the door into the staff area, the stairs creaking as she climbs up into the private office.

Katherine is trembling and Giacomo smiles emphatically,

"It's alright" he takes her hands and leads her casually to the backyard, to the backstairs which provide a second entrance to the office.

"Go on now" he gives her a gentle push on her back and she sets foot on the first old and rotting step before turning back and giving him a grateful smile,

"Thank-you my friend"

He puts a hand to his heart and bows, "Of course"

The door to his office has been left slightly ajar and Katherine hovers outside it, trying to calm her frantic heart.

She can hear the footsteps and the creak of aged leather as the woman inside sits down and waits expectantly.

She wanted this.

She's _always_ wanted this.

Trying to capture her usual façade of a powerful woman without a concern in the world and failing spectacularly she pushes open the door and slips inside, her eyes immediately locking onto the only inhabitant in the room.

She glimpsed her when she was only a few seconds old, she caught a glimpse of red skin and dark hair.

She had often wondered what her child would look like.

Whether she would resemble her image or the features she should have had if there had never been a doppelganger curse. She had tried to merge her face and the face of her lover to see what the result would be.

Nadia is more beautiful than she could have imagined.

She is all sharp lines and angles but her eyes, she has her mother's eyes and hair, just like Giacomo said. She is staring at her now and Katerina smiles nervously,

"Hello Nadia" she whispers, "It's really nice to meet you"

A tear runs down her daughter's olive toned cheek and suddenly Katerina is tripping over her own feet so she can pull her child into her arms, she nearly falls and topples them onto the armchair but they keep themselves upright despite the ten inches of heels between them. They are giggling and weeping, overwhelmed with the situation but both determined not to let go of the other for a good long while.

* * *

Raina looks up from the television as she hears the footfall in the backyard. Reaching over she grabs the remote and pauses the movie, rousing Erik who had been staring intently at the screen,

"Come on sweetie" she stands up and helps him to the floor, "Break time"

He burbles and walks to the table where she'd already set up a juice box. He unwraps the straw clumsily and drops the plastic back on the table, he's drinking happily as she leads him to the backyard.

Cary Boyd is perched on the hot tub, studying his surrounds curiously,

"Must be nice to be able to compel yourself the best of everything" he remarks drily as Raina helps Erik across the marble patio,

"I wouldn't sit there if I were you" she warns, "The only time that's used is when Elijah and Katherine get bored of bathtub sex"

He shoots up and brushes down the back of his jeans before dropping into a crouch and smiling at Erik,

"Hey buddy" he speaks in the higher tone everyone always used around children, "How's it going?"

Erik releases a squeal of delight and runs across the marble into Cary's arms, clapping his hands on the man's face and babbling away.

Raina watches the scene intently, "You think he knows you?" she asks wonderingly, "Or maybe he just mistakes you for his father?"

Cary shakes his head, "Nah, I did some research, a kid at this age knows his parents faces, or well…parent"

Everyone knew that Erik was motherless, that Hayley Marshall had been murdered by Tyler Lockwood's pack as an act of vengeance against Klaus.

"I think he just recognises one of his own" he makes a funny face at the child who giggles and continues talking his two year old nonsense.

"Where is everyone?" he asks, "I mean, I know Rebekah is sleeping with that Crescent mutt in his trailer but where's everyone else?"

"Mystic Falls" she answers, "Apparently something big is going down there and they're the rescue brigade, well Elijah is, Klaus is Plan B in Richmond. Katherine's off somewhere scheming away"

He nods, "And his girlfriend?"

"Caroline?" Raina shrugs, "I haven't really met her she hasn't come by to see Erik yet but so far no evil stepmother vibes"

Cary sighs in relief, "Good, how about you? You're safe"

She grins, "Yeah, as far as I can be protecting our little hybrid heir. Klaus hasn't picked up on me yet"

He frowns, "He doesn't recognise his own?"

Raina shakes her head, "The white wolf might have been able to tell a werewolf and their clan from a scent alone but Klaus…I'm dormant so he can't pick up on my supernatural heritage"

"Okay" Cary hands Erik back to her, "I better make tracks, keep an eye on him though and guard him with your life because someone somewhere is cooking up something catastrophic and if they're gonna move against the royal family, they aren't gonna leave an heir alive to unleash hell when he comes of age"

Erik waves his pudgy hand as Cary hurries across the lawn and Raina sighs,

"I hope our pack beta is just over-reacting sweetie"

She feels a thrill of unease when the young boy shakes his head.

* * *

A/N- While the mother/daughter reunion in season 5 was sweet, it could have been more, there should have been more mother/daughter bonding.


	10. Caroline IV Bonnie II

A/N- Sorry for the day-late update. I had trouble writing this chapter. It was originally meant to be Bonnie all the way but I couldn't make that work.

So here we go.

My love always to my lovely fans and I hope TVD and TO Seasons premier is everything we hope it will be.

My Alpha Female readers will hopefully pick up on the reference I make in this chapter.

* * *

It was a good thing that Caroline didn't have any checked in baggage because she was first off the plane the second it hit the ground and before it was even cleared to disembark.

She stood on the tarmac and looked around frantically, seeing the airport in front of her and decided to race around the building as opposed to through it in the hope that she would draw less attention.

She didn't even know whether or not her actions would draw security out or whether she'd get caught on camera but she would worry about that later.

She rounded the corner and sighed with relief when she saw the drop off section of the airport, there was a young man waiting there with her name on a sign in front of an SUV.

"Hey!" she called out to him as she approached, realising only when he glanced down at her feet that she must have lost a shoe at some point,

"I'm Caroline Forbes"

"Oh thank _God_!" he breathes, "Both Mikaelson's have been calling me every ten minutes for the last hour"

He hands her a cellphone, "You need to get in touch with them immediately, I'm told my life depends on it"

Oh God.

Please don't let her mom be dead.

He must see how close she is to losing it because he opens the driver's side door and ushers her in to sit down while she tries to press the numbers on the phone, he takes it from her when she misdials a second time and hands it back to her when she hears Klaus' familiar voice distorted by technology,

"_Caroline! Caroline…speak to me, tell me you are alright!_"

She stares at the driver in disbelief, "I'm fine Klaus, but I don't have time for this! Jesus it was a two hour flight and I'm not the one in the hospital…"

_"It's a trap"_ he interrupts and she blinks in confusion,

"What?!"

_"I spoke to your mother, she was fine she hasn't been injured in any way but somehow communication with anyone from Mystic Falls has been disabled, we can't seem to contact any of your friends or even the hospital…"_

"So wait" she holds out a hand, palm up even as she realises that-of course- Klaus can't see her,

"My mom is okay but my _friends_ aren't?"

On the other end of the line, Klaus growls with frustration,

_"I don't know love but Elijah and I are headed to Virginia on the next flight, we will be there shortly and I want you to wait until we get there alright?"_

She runs a hand through her hair and wishes someone could just explain to her what's going on.

"_No I won't hang up this damn phone_" Klaus is arguing with someone, "_I don't care if it's airline procedure…oh go on try to arrest me I dare you…"_

_"Caroline"_ Elijah's voice is difficult to hear over the sound of a man screaming on the other end of the line and what sounds like metal crashing against metal,

_"We believe that you are being lured back to Mystic Falls and we wish for you to remain at the airport until we can arrive so as to ensure your safety. Niklaus will be staying in Richmond and providing back up support lest whoever it is that set the trap has a white oak stake and I shall go with you into the town to fetch your mother and friends, now assure me that you have heard and understood me"_

"Okay" Caroline says, "I understand you perfectly"

Somehow conversations with Elijah always had her and Elena modifying their speech until they sounded just like him, she wondered if they hung out long enough whether she would start drinking tea and hosting soirees.

She was probably in shock or her adrenaline was just running so high that now she was sitting still her brain was just going into overdrive and jumping about like a pinball machine.

Elijah hangs up just as the sound of an animal- probably Klaus- roars on his end and Caroline hands the phone back to the driver,

"Thank-you…" she trails off, realising that she didn't know his name,

"Rodney" he supplies, "Nice to meet you" he shakes her limp hand, "So…uh…what size shoe do you wear?"

"Huh?" She looks down at her bare feet with her bright red toenail polish, "Oh…um…thirty-six I think"

"Okay" he picks up her legs and tucks them into the car,

"I'm going to buy you some flip-flops or whatever's available and maybe some juice or something…unless you need blood?"

She shakes her head, "No…no the last thing I need right this second is an energy boost but…uh…thanks I guess?"

He shrugs, "No problem, I'll be back in five minutes" 

He locks the car and slips the security guard a fifty as he heads into the arrivals terminal.

Meanwhile Caroline is watching as a minivan pulls up in front of her and a family of five moves forward from the doors, dressed in floral print shirts with patches of red skin from where the sunscreen didn't reach or protect them.

The teenager already has his headphones on and the twins are proudly showing off their souvenirs to the elderly couple- probably their grandparents- who are picking them up and helping them load the suitcases into the trunk.

A tear slips down her face, she never had that, vacations in warm tropical locations and someone waiting to pick her family up afterwards.

Between her mom working and her dad going away for 'business trips' her holidays were spent with Elena at the Lake house.

Not that she minded at the time.

But now she tries to imagine herself at forty years old, with three sunburnt exhausted kids and a husband to wrangle out of the airport.

She is so relieved that her in-laws were able to pick them up but she's also tired and wants to go straight home so she can dump the bags, throw on something a little warmer and do the supermarket shopping because there's nothing in the fridge and she can't do one more restaurant dinner- 

She jumps as she realises that someone is knocking on the window of the car, thinking that it's Rodney she almost turns to open it on habit but realises quickly that it isn't him.

For one thing, she doubts anyone under Klaus' employ would be using the butt of the gun to gain her attention.

And he isn't knocking, he's trying to break the window.

She jumps to the passenger side and hits her head on the roof handle just as glass shatters everywhere, she hisses and her eyes go red with her fangs protruding as a gloved hand reaches inside the car, fumbles around and finds the lock.

The passenger door is yanked open and another hand tangles itself in her hair and pulls her bodily from the car.

She throws her hair back and when she doesn't come into contact with anything, spins around so quickly that she loses a chunk of hair but the bone of arm connected to the hand holding her snaps in several different places.

There is a shriek but her left foot was raised for a roundhouse kick and she only sees her attacker when they go flying across the road to hit and dent the taxi parked across from them.

Woman. Early thirties. Muscled. Dressed in fake army gear. Kevlar.

Out for the count.

Pain explodes in her back and she arches before dropping to the ground and rolling onto her stomach, under the car.

Whatever hit her didn't go through to her stomach so she reaches blindly behind her and feels the scratchy hard structural tissue known to all as wood.

She'd been staked.

Praying that the stake was whittled properly she yanks it out and feels a momentary sense of relief when her back heals and no splinters lodge themselves under her skin.

But she's not out of the woods yet.

Pun not intended- she's definitely in shock.

The attacker drops to the pavement with a crossbow aimed to fire under the car.

He'd been expecting her to hide under the car or perhaps to go forward to the now available space in front of them.

But Caroline Forbes likes to surprise people.

So she'd rolled back out to the passenger side and thrown herself over the car, landing on the man's back and aiming her foot for his spine.

She hears a definitive crack.

She has little medical knowledge, she might have studied microbiology but she'd decided to break the spine without knowing how high up she had to aim her foot to make him either a paraplegic or quadriplegic.

Still, she'd figured a broken spine was a broken spine, nobody could fight with one.

The man who'd broken the window moans and gurgles with pain and she flips him over onto his stomach.

He tries to glare at her but his eyes are flooded with tears from the pain,

"Who are you?!" she demands, "Why the _hell_ did you just attack me?"

He spits at her and she grabs him by the collar and smacks his head against the concrete, not hard enough to kill him but painfully enough to get her point across,

"Tell me why you attacked me!"

"Or what?" he sneers, choking on bile, "You'll kill me?"

She shakes her head and moves her jaw back and forth, trying to find a comfortable place for her fangs and the rest of her teeth,

"I won't kill you" she warns, "I'll turn you"

She holds her wrist to her mouth and bites down loudly, for show more than effectiveness.

Her blood drips down onto his face and he throws his head to the side quickly to avoid any of it landing in his mouth,

"I was hired!" he tells her, "We all were"

"We?" she snarls, "Who are you?"

"Hunters…vampire hunters" he adds as if it wasn't obvious, "We were told there was a hundred vampires in Mystic Falls and we'd get paid a thousand bucks for each kill. Two thousand for some of the more dangerous ones, like you!"

One _hundred_ vampires?!

There wasn't even one hundred vampires in _New Orleans_, let alone in Mystic Falls.

An official population of seven thousand- which was more like five thousand with the high mortality rate- and only one hospital and blood bank couldn't sustain fifty vampires without notice let alone one hundred.

And who would put a two thousand dollar bounty on her head?!

"Who sent you?" she demanded, "Give me their name"

But he had gone pale and blood was bubbling at his mouth,

"They told me I could become a Five hunter" he whispers dreamily before he falls unconscious.

Dropping him, she climbs to her feet, ignoring the sounds of sirens in the distance and the security guards who had now gathered to point their guns at her, shouting for her to 'Get on the Ground' whilst simultaneously ordering her to 'Don't move, put your hands in the air'

Klaus had been right. It had been a trap.

Someone had lured vampire hunters to Mystic Falls with the promise of thousands of dollars and the chance to become Five hunters, she figured at least one of those was a bald lie.

Did this mean they had only lured five vampire hunters or more?

Likely more.

Five men and women wouldn't stand a chance against four vampires and an actual Five hunter, not in a town they'd all grown up in and knew like the back of their hand, not a town where they'd all survived a lot worse than a paltry group of Buffy wannabes.

Which likely meant someone had placed the hunter equivalent of an ad on Craigslist and hoped they would all flock with the promise of money or supernatural power.

So Klaus had been wrong.

Her mother _was_ in danger.

They all were.

And she couldn't wait for him and Elijah to get there.

She hears a sizzle and holds out her hand, catching the strings of the taser.

They give her a shock but she throws them back and they land on the guard, causing him to drop to the ground and jerk violently.

She turns back to the car and sees that the tires had been slashed at some point, well, she wasn't driving that then.

With a sigh she holds up her hand,

"_Taxi_"

* * *

The Emergency Room of Mystic Falls General Hospital was in chaos.

Fortunately, several years of frequent pandemonium had taught the response team to consider this run-of-the-mill.

First thing they did was get the wounded out of the area, clearing it and notifying police as they moved the victims further into the hospital, activating bomb procedure and only noticing in passing that the shrapnel was all wood splinters.

Whoever had blown up the ER had done so with a bomb made with large fragments of wood.

But Mystic Falls always rolled out its own special brand of crazy.

"Alright people!" Meredith Fell takes control of the situation with her no nonsense tone and the clipboard that all in-control leaders seemed to magically acquire,

"I want the more serious patients on the left side of the ward, the less serious on the right. Security, I want you to disarm the bomber in the ambulance bay and do a sweep of the hospital. I want somebody to get me the Sherriff and the Mayor on the phone asap!"

"Phone lines are down" a paramedic tells her as he washes the stomach wound of a ten year old boy who'd come in with an over worried mother and the chicken pox. "We've already tried, internet, telephone, two cans connected with string- everything is down"

She stops and considers this, feeling the distinct disgusting sensation of fear.

This wasn't some crazy random who might have found out about vampires.

This was a co-ordinated attack.

And not one of the Founding Family members either. They would never have risked civilian casualties on such a large scale.

No.

They had _outsiders_ invading _their_ town.

"Right!" she turns to Dr Smallwood, the man was Founding Family and would know a supernatural attack if he saw one.

He'd also have no qualm about burying enough lead to build another Liberty Bell into anyone who tried a second attack on the hospital.

"I'm going to find the Mayor" she tells him, handing him the magical clipboard of leadership.

Stepping out of the hospital is like waking up from a nightmare.

The rest of Mystic Falls appears to be completely fine, instead of running for their lives or panicking, the citizens who heard about the commotion are gathered out the front of the building to rubberneck and some are in the parking lot to eagerly ask her for information as she brushes past them.

"I don't know" is all she offers them as she climbs into her car and revves the engine to let them know they only had seconds to get out of her way before they themselves needed medical attention.

The drive from the hospital to the town hall is barely five minutes. She parks right out front and hurries inside, exhaling with relief when she sees Mayor Hopkins standing in the centre of the main hall surrounded by several people.

She calls his name and starts striding towards him, wondering why he looks up at her with bewilderment,

"The hospital was attacked" she tells him breathlessly, "One dead, several more injured"

He nods and holds up a hand to silence the man beside him, Meredith glances at the man and wonders why the hell he looks like an extra from the Matrix.

"What about the vampires?" Hopkins asks her and she starts, turning her head to take in the crowd and not seeing a single one of them look surprised that the Mayor is asking about the existence of supernatural creatures like it was ordinary business,

"I…uh…I don't know" she recalls that she'd run into Stefan last week at the Grill,

"I'm…uh…pretty sure they're out of town on vacation"

He nods curtly, "So you don't know anything?"

Behind her a voice snarls, "Doesn't matter, she's with _them_"

A hand grabs her shoulder and she wants to turn around but something is drawn across her neck and something must have been spilt on her because suddenly the collar of her t-shirt is soaked.

She touches the collar and holds it away from her chest confusedly, someone spilt blood on her.

Oh.

Oh no.

That's her blood.

Someone slit her throat.

* * *

"Oh my God!"

Bonnie shrieks as the body of Meredith Fell hits the marble floor.

She had just come through the large oak doors and ignores everything in favour of rushing to the woman and turning her onto her back.

But the doctor is already dead. Her eyes still wide open in disbelief, her hand now slack on her throat from where she had tried to staunch the bleeding.

"Throw her in the back"

Bonnie is pushed to the side as two men grab the woman's arms and legs and carry her through the swinging side door.

She drops her gaze to where the body had been and sees a large pool of blood slowly spreading to stain her knees and her father's shoes,

"Bonnie, get up sweetie"

Shakily, Bonnie climbs to her feet, "Dad," she holds out her hands, "What the hell is going on?!"

Rudy Hopkins grabs her by the arm and begins steering her to the hallway,

"Bonnie," he says in a stern voice, "You need to go to my office and stay there, it's warded so the vampires can't get in"

She shakes her head. Why would she need to hide from the vampires? She knows the vampires.

She grew up with Elena and is friends with all of them.

Well, she _was_ friends with all of them but at the moment that isn't relevant,

"What the hell is happening?" she demands,

"First the hospital is attacked and now the main street looks like there's a Supernatural cosplaying convention happening out there! What is going on?"

He sighs and pushes her into the office, sitting her down on the couch with the sunken seats that hadn't been upgraded since Richard Lockwood had likely banged his mistresses on it.

"I'm dealing with the vampires Bonnie" he explains to her slowly as if she is a child,

"I've figured out a way to get rid of them"

She doesn't understand and shakes her head, "_What_ are you talking about?!"

"These vampires are a menace, they take what they want when they want. I've brought in your mother's relatives to spell the town so they can't leave and we're going to hunt every last one of them as a message to any vampire who thinks they can come into our town"

She stares at him in horror, "Are you _insane_? You can't! Damon Salvatore will kill anyone who comes after him"

Her father humphs with pride, "Unlikely, I've got a solid two dozen hard-core vampire hunters in the town with more on the way, even he couldn't fight every last one of them!"

She grabs his hands and grips them, trying to make him see reason,

"Call it off dad, if you don't Elena will call Caroline who will come running back with Klaus in tow"

"The reception towers are down, no-one can call out" he smiles patronisingly,

"Besides, we've already lured Caroline back here we called her pretending that Liz had been injured"

"Oh God" Bonnie thought she was going to be sick, "That's even worse, if Caroline comes back and Klaus can't contact her, or anyone else he'll definitely come for her and he might bring an entire army with him…or worse his siblings"

Rudy gets to his feet and pats her on the head, "It's okay Bon Bon, you just stay here and wait for me, your cousin Lucy is in the woods holding up the barrier but once all the vampires are dead she can come in and you two can have a sleepover or get drinks or something- won't that be nice!"

"_No!_" she shakes her head, "Dad, you have to listen to me, if the Originals come you'll die, everyone will die!"

He smirks, "Don't worry sweetheart, Daddy has a secret weapon"

He reaches into his jacket and draws out half a crudely carved white oak stake,

"Mr Mortensen grabbed some of the scrap wood from the old bridge to whittle his Christmas decorations" he explains nonchalantly as if he isn't holding one of the deadliest weapons in the supernatural world.

"Now wait for me here Bonnie" he orders as he steps out of the office and closes the door behind him, "I'll be back by nightfall"

She throws herself against the door and pulls on it with all her might but her father has already locked it and when she lifts up his paperweight to try and break the glass she realises that he's had it replaced with bullet-resistant panes.

She's trapped while her friends are out there being lured into a trap and will have to fight for their lives.

She's trapped and won't be on hand to try and stop Damon Salvatore when he begins massacring people left and right.

She's trapped and won't be able to warn Klaus not to enter the town because if he dies, all her friends are lost.

Oh God.

She didn't want this.

Not _this_.

This would ruin all her plans.

She runs her hands through her hair and begins weeping.

* * *

Rodney had left Caroline Forbes alone for ten minutes.

Ten _goddamn_ minutes.

He'd known she was a Mystic Falls vampire and dating Klaus but still, she should have been able to avoid trouble for _ten_ _minutes_.

The pick-up/drop-off section of the airport resembled a war zone.

The SUV was smashed and slashed probably beyond repair and there was two dead bodies lying on the footpath while security guards stormed around in cheap footwear and all shouted into their phones in a blind panic, having been trained to deal with emergencies but never having to have actually dealt with anything more serious than a drill.

_Christ_.

He'd have to deal with Klaus- Egomaniac- Mikaelson.

Or perhaps even worse Elijah- What do you mean everything isn't perfect?!- Mikaelson.

Bloody Hell.

"Bollocks" he swore under his breath and then closed his eyes to focus on burying his natural accent.

Figuring he needed to make himself scarce lest somebody see him and remember that this was his car, he feigns casualness as he strolls down the road, stopping at the first café he sees and leaning against the side of the building, out of sight from the main road but looking for all the world like a guy just making a call.

Which he definitely has to do.

But not to the vampires.

She picks up on the second call.

"_Why are you calling me?_" she demands, "_I totally told you we were over Blake!_"

Code.

It's not a good time for her.

Tough shit.

He's got a problem of fucking epic proportions on his hands.

"Something's going down in Mystic Falls" he tells her, hoping like hell she doesn't have him on speakerphone.

"Caroline Forbes was headed there after being told her mom was sick or something. Elijah hired me to pick her up from the airport but when I got here he called me saying that under no circumstances was I to take her to the town and to phone Klaus the minute I found her. Turns out there's some sort of trap being set for the vampires, she was attacked by two wannabe soldiers while my back was turned and now I have two bodies on my hands and two Original vampires headed my way to find her gone!"

"_Fucking Bonnie Bennett_" she cursed, "_The dumb bitch must have done something stupid…fuck…okay, I'll have to call the higher ups and report this_"

"Should I say something to the Mikaelsons?" he asks but she shouts him down,

"_Fuck no, do you want to be disembowelled?! Stay quiet, stay undercover until I tell you otherwise_"

He hangs up and takes a deep breath.

And now to call the Hybrid.

* * *

A/N- There we go.


	11. Damon I Elijah I

A/N- So, even Sheila Bennett screws Bonnie over. Think about it, she 'saved' her granddaughter by sending her to a bubble of existence where- had she not been holding on to Damon at the time- she would have been alone forever and likely gone insane.  
And how much do we want to bet that Alaric screws up somehow and Elena's happy memories of Damon won't come back until after several episodes, possibly an entire season of angst.  
Sorry about the delay in update.

* * *

At this stage in his unnatural life, Damon Salvatore had only served in one war.

That wasn't to say he hadn't been in warzones- after realising Lexi was nothing more than a control freak drunk on her own idea of herself- he'd followed his little brother to Egypt and quietly worked his way through the enemy soldiers, hoping to provide Stefan with an easier task of getting his wounded out alive.

But even though it had been over one hundred years since the Civil War, Damon still remembered the rules of combat that had been drilled into him.

Firstly, he had to find cover or concealment and set up a local secure base.

Which of course in Mystic Falls was easier said than done.

He should have known. That's what bugged him the most, he should have known he was walking into a trap but he'd been so focused on making sure Liz- one of the few people in this world he could call a friend- was okay that he'd ignored the warning lights he was sure would have been flashing through his brain.

He had known that Hopkins was working against him. He had figured out there was an attack plan in the works but he had never thought that the first shot would be in an area as crowded with humans as the hospital.

Hopkins always waxed poetic about the rights of the humans in Mystic Falls- what the _hell_ was he doing putting them in danger?

Never mind. He couldn't think about that now, not with Stefan and Elena following him down the street, completely exposed as he carried a dazed and bruised Liz on his shoulder.

Get to a secure location.

The Boarding House was out. If Hopkins had lured them to the hospital, likely he had hunters waiting for them at their house.

Rick's apartment was no good either, close quarters were good in hand-to-hand combat but another grenade or a bomb and they'd be stuck five floors up with limited escape options.

Ditto the caves, a couple of vervein smoke bombs and the entire network would be lethal.

The Grill would probably be one of the first places they'd check…

The high school. He knew the layout, he knew where they could hide without drawing too much attention and if Hopkins sent armed men in to draw them out, someone would see the weapon, scream holy murder and before anyone could blink there'd be federal police, hostage negotiators and every local media station gathered around the perimeter watching their every move.

It was still school holidays but there would have to be some sort of program happening that required student attendance.

Even Hopkins wasn't stupid enough to risk a life sentence in prison just to try and make Mystic Falls vampire free.

But first, he'd have to get Liz walking under her own strength.

He leads them to the local park, they're exposed but with a clear line of sight, they'll be able to see any attacks coming.

"Okay, here we go"

Damon lowers Liz down onto the sidewalk as Stefan crouches down and begins checking out her injuries. Seeing that she's taken care of for the moment, he turns to Elena and notices that her fangs are still out and her eyes are red with blood and lined with veins,

"Hey" he cups her chin and gives her a gentle shake, "Come on Batman take off the mask"

She frowns but swallows and closes her eyes, taking two deep breaths before reverting back to her human features,

"Damon" Elena's voice is shaky with fright, "What the hell was that?"

Well, going on the fact that he'd just had to yank a rather large overgrown vervein soaked splinter from his forehead, he's gonna go with vampire hunter as his final answer.

Question is- what the fuck is a hunter doing committing murder in broad daylight…and with freaking humans outnumbering the vampires in the immediate vicinity ten-to-one?

He blinks at Liz as his head clears from the penetrating injury,

"Hey, what were you doing at the hospital anyway?"

She doesn't immediately answer, she chooses to push Stefan out of the way and throw up in the gutter instead, wiping her mouth afterwards and giving herself a shakedown, pulling herself together in less time than it takes other people to fall apart.

Damon's always been a fan of Liz and her no-bullshit attitude, but she was thrown around in a bomb blast and will have to be handling everything that's currently hitting the fan so he takes a bite out of his wrist and offers it to her,

"Just don't die today and you'll be fine" he offers as assurance,

She glares at him, "I'd rather go back to the hospital"

"You went to the hospital, it got _blown up_ remember" he flickers his eyes at her and Elena steps around him,

"Liz, Klaus was the person who called us saying you were in the hospital…that means Caroline was called as well and probably headed straight here from New Orleans. We have to get out of town and intercept her and we can't do that if we're carrying wounded"

Damn.

What does it say about the last few years that Elena can now strategize and plan ahead with the same thought process as a ground soldier?

Nothing good.

Although useful in this situation. He hadn't even considered retreat but now that he thought about it, get everyone the hell out of dodge to a safe area, come back and scope out the enemy before eating every last one of them.

He takes another bite of his wrist as the first wound heals over, "Come on" he urges,

"Sooner we get this done, sooner we can find Caroline"

Those were the magic words, the promise to a mother that she would see her child.

Liz takes his wrist in her hand and drinks the barest sip, making a disgusted face as she pulls away,

"Okay" she wipes her mouth and swallows, "We need a car"

The Camaro was still at the hospital, the tyres had been slashed so they'd been forced to abandon it, besides even if he wanted to the car was far too recognisable for them to drive around town.

Still, the thought of abandoning the vehicle he'd spent so many years in- the car that had been his home when he'd lived life moving restlessly from place to place, waiting endlessly for the comet that would release Katherine from the tomb- hurt.

But he had Stefan and Elena to worry about.

His eyes swept the surrounding area before landing on an old jeep, it had clearly seen better days but if it could make the two hour drive to Richmond or hell just get them out of town it'd do.

He hoped Liz knew something about hotwiring cars, the only experience he had with auto theft was compelling people to give him the keys or beating Jeremy at the video game.

Jeremy.

_Shit_.

"Call your brother" he tells Elena, "_Now_,"

Her eyes go wide with horror and she's ripping her phone out of her back pocket, pressing number two on the screen and tapping her foot with supernatural speed.

Damon waits with the barest sliver of patience, hoping that since it's barely nine am Jeremy and Matt will still be at the Lake House sleeping off their hangovers and will stay put until he can collect them.

Unless Hopkins plans to take them captive?

No. They're both human, besides if someone pointed a weapon at little Gilbert his Five hunter training would kick in and bodies would be dropping left, right and centre.

And Elena would be horrified but Damon has no problem with Jeremy joining in the fight if the odds are stacked in his favour.

"What's taking so long?" he demands as Elena hangs up and redials,

"The call isn't going through" she complains and he runs a hand through his hair in frustration before Liz offers to try on her phone.

But a minute later she's cursing, "The lines are down" she explains,

"And today of all days I don't think something died on the wires"

"They're jamming us" he surmises.

_Damn_.

So, Hopkins had somehow tricked Caroline into thinking her mother was injured, which would bring her running from New Orleans and he'd either been betting on the group's love for one another or their concern for Liz to draw them back into town and to the hospital where a hunter had been waiting for them.

Liz had likely just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, Damon knew she liked to swing past the ER during her shift to ensure that nothing was going down but he'd been there for the tail end of her conversation to Klaus, so he would know something was wrong.

Hopefully he'd be hot on Caroline's tail and keep her somewhere safe for them.

But with their luck, it was more likely that blondie was gunning it to town and would be another vampire running around clueless on the day that Hopkins had declared it was hunting season.

Okay.

One problem at a time.

Turns out Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes did know how to hotwire a car.

"If you ever tell anyone I will kill you" she mutters under her breath as they approach the jeep, keeping an eye out for potential dangers,

"But I had a juvie record longer than my…"

The second explosion was less deadly than the first.

At least this time there was no casualties, they had simply been knocked to the ground, stunned as their brains tried to reorient themselves and they tried to get air back into their lungs.

Elena and Stefan had been a few feet behind Damon and Liz so they were less winded and when the bullets started flying, Stefan was first up and throwing himself at the attacker, catching a bullet to the chest but tackling the woman to the ground.

Damon was just getting to his feet as he heard the tell-tale sound of an arm being ripped from its socket.

_Crap_.

He was worried Stefan had relapsed but he staggered over to see Stefan wasn't feeding, he was just making a mess of his kill.

His brother pulls himself back and crouches by the body,

"If these bastards are going to hunt us in broad daylight" he growls ominously,

"Let them hunt all of us at our worst and know that we're throwing out the rulebook as well"

Fine.

Let the Ripper of Monterrey tear through whoever was after them.

The South wasn't lacking in underground basements for him to throw his little brother in to detox him later.

And if by chance they ended up in the North…well he was sure there was a storm cellar or two there as well.

So the jeep had been rigged to blow, knowing that they'd be looking for a large car to carry them to safety, that meant Hopkins didn't want them leaving town.

Unfortunately for the Murderous Mayor, Mystic Falls was surrounded on all sides by deep forest, and even he couldn't have stationed hunters in every corner of it, it would be tough going for Liz but they could hike over the town line and once they were on the highway, steal a car or call a cab or hopefully make contact Caroline or Klaus and be in Richmond by nightfall.

Failing that, Damon would find Bonnie, take her hostage and demand that every vampire in town be allowed to leave peacefully.

Back in 1863 he'd been able to get all his men out alive, on no small part due to the deals he'd made with the Devil but he no longer had the same tools at his disposal.

Still, he'd managed a lot more on a lot less.

First things first.

"Right" he sighed, clapping his hands "Time for school everyone"

* * *

"I would much prefer you simply give me the information I require" Elijah politely requested as he stood in the middle of the road leading to Mystic Falls, surrounded by corpses and dangling the vampire hunter by the throat.

After the catastrophe that was Virginia airport, what with the attack on Caroline in the parking area and then security classifying the situation as an act of domestic terrorism, the planes had all been rerouted.

Well, _almost_ all the planes.

Niklaus had been very determined to land in Virginia and thankfully the pilots had not been on vervein, however they were now very likely fired for breaking several laws in landing on the tarmac in clear violation of instructions.

After the debrief from Rodney, it had been very, very difficult to convince his little brother not to follow Caroline to Mystic Falls.

In the end Elijah had taken Niklaus' face in his hands, sworn he would find and extract the entire coven and then snapped his brother's neck, thrown his body in an empty dumpster, jammed it closed and told Rodney to book a hotel suite for when the King of New Orleans managed to work his way out of the metal contraption.

A quick text to Katerina, asking her to locate and hide the silver daggers and white oak ash and Elijah had been in a rental car headed straight to Mystic Falls.

He had been approaching the outskirts of town when a line of tyre spikes had been thrown across the road and his car had come to a rather sudden, unpleasant stop.

From there, a weapon he would later learn was a grenade launcher had been fired at him.

Elijah _abhorred_ modern weaponry, as did many vampires who had existed before the twentieth century.

He believed there was more honour in a sword fight, when both parties were more or less equal, he'd considered canons gauche and unnecessary and guns…

There was no honour in firing a gun, in killing a man without having to look him in the eye.

And nuclear weaponry.

Elijah was often known as the chivalrous Original, the brother who lived in suits and turned his face from the gauche advances of modern technology, but that was because it broke his heart to watch the world run screaming into the abyss as it tore itself to shreds.

So it was with aversion that he picked off the toy soldiers or as he was sure they would call themselves- vampire hunters- leaving only one survivor.

This one appeared to be the leader.

Although how natural selection had failed to kick in and let this one reach maturity was beyond him.

Being a fan of a televised serial did not give one license to hunt the supernatural in his opinion.

"You are a vampire hunter" Elijah mused to the man's rapidly reddening face and flailing legs,

"That is quite obvious from your pathetic attempt to kill me…you aren't a very good hunter, as proven by the fact that you attacked me without first determining that I am indeed a vampire"

He gives the man a shake and loosens his grip just enough to let him breathe,

"Now, before I go into Mystic Falls and start killing everyone who aims a crossbow at me, I would like to know the exact figures so that I might estimate how long this shall take…I have a fiancée at home you see and if I am not back by nightfall I am worried that she shall be frightened, or worse, angry enough to use my bank account for her shoe addiction"

"Twe…" the man coughed and spluttered, spittle flying and Elijah turned his face in disgust,

"Twenty-something"

He drops him to the ground and uses his handkerchief to wipe his face,

"Twenty?" he murmurs in disbelief, "Twenty hunters for _four_ _vampires_?"

The man is gasping for breath and tries to drag himself away, "For _one hundred_ vampires!"

Elijah scoffs, "One hundred vampires in a small country town two hours from Richmond?! The entire state of Virginia would barely be pushing thirty vampires"

The hunter stood up and flung holy water in his face, chanting rapidly in Latin as Elijah sighed and checked his watch,

"Well, I have to assume you were found over the internet by someone who is as much an idiot as yourself"

He snapped his neck and stepped over his body, striding down the road into town, it was a deceptively warm day and had he not been supernatural speed he might have been enjoying the wondrous scenery.

As it was he was so concerned with finding Caroline and her extended family that he only just sensed the person before the spell hit him.

Brain boiling pain.

He falls to his knees, clutching his temple as the witch burned him with bursting aneurysms and although it wasn't the first time he'd been attacked in this manner, or sadly even the thirtieth it still hurt every time.

And just as suddenly, the pain was gone and his brain was able to heal, slowly the tissue came back together and he was no longer blinded. Gathering his strength, he rose to his feet and faced down the young witch in front of him,

"Once upon a time" he began lightly, "Humanity greeted one another with formal introductions, not weaponry and attacks…Hello" he held out a hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you"

The woman snorted indelicately and crossed her arms, not that he was surprised or in any way fazed by her actions,

"Very well" he fiddled with his watch, "Then perhaps you'd care to tell me why it is you don't want me entering Mystic Falls proper today?"

"We've been expecting _you_" she sneers, "Hybrid Klaus running to the vampires rescue!"

He had been correct then, Klaus had been the target and poor Caroline and her beloved friends had been the bait, a way to lure the Original back to Mystic Falls and kill an entire line of vampires.

He doesn't let the horror of this attempted genocide show on his face.

He's unflappable, he's spent a thousand years seeing those he loved at their best and their very worst.

Just because this worthless witch doesn't understand the enormity of her actions, it doesn't make her a monster, just a little fool.

"Ah…" he grins ruefully, "I'm afraid you're mistaken, I'm Elijah Mikaelson, the eldest Original not my dear little brother I'm afraid"

He raises his voice so that the witches in the forest, the ones who are trying to hide from him can hear his words. The woman in front of him is about to contradict him, possibly with another round of torture but he watches patiently as she takes him in for the first time.

He was distinguishable by the suits which he wore every day. Niklaus preferred the more casual clothes available to them all, his daylight ring also was a signature piece of jewellery- once again something his brother did not wear.

"Now that we've cleared that up" he opens his arms to address them, "I'm searching for a beautiful blonde woman…although I must ask that you do not tell Katherine Pierce that I referred to this vampiress as beautiful, my fiancée is rather the jealous type"

This was not information pertinent to the conversation but he did enjoy being able to call Katerina his fiancée.

"Blonde hair, blue eyes, black pants and a green top" he continued, "Caroline Forbes" Elijah let her name sink in, "You should know of her by now, several months ago my brother offered immunity to witches around the world for the assistance they gave her in destroying Silas once and for all. She might not be your personal ally but she is not your enemy"

"She's a _vampire_!" the woman interrupted, "Impure and monstrous, she _deserves_ to die"

"Lucy" a voice hissed and Elijah delayed his response as the rest of the witch coven emerged from the trees, his eyes darting about for a familiar face before settling on one who was not a witch.

At least not anymore.

"Ms Bennett?" he questioned bewildered, "Forgive me" he added when he saw the startled look on her face, "The resemblance between your daughter and yourself is quite telling…but I do not understand why you are here, Caroline's actions are what brought Bonnie back from the Other Side"

"You mean the deal she made with Silas" she seethed, "Thanks to her, Silas died and was released from his torment, Qetsiyah's work of thousands of years undone by a nineteen year old brat"

"A brat who traded Silas' life for your daughters and considered it quite the bargain" he countered before deciding that he was getting nowhere,

"Your opinion of vampires is noted but as I do not feel like discussing ideology today, perhaps you would be so kind as to let me pass? If you wish to kill my brother then by all means he is staying at a hotel in Richmond, shall I give you his number so that you may call him?"

The witches were quite put out by Elijah's presence in place of his brother's, they had clearly been banking on Klaus to come roaring into town, distracted and vulnerable.

But clearly they decided that they would make do for Elijah was driven to his knees again by the crippling pain and though he threw himself at Lucy and rendered her unconscious, the pain did not relent for all the witches were chanting now.

They undid the spell on his daylight ring and his flesh began to burn, instinctively he sought shelter in the trees, throwing himself into the forest, away from the witches and under the cool cover of old canopies.

Right into the trap that had been meant for Niklaus.

Still in pain, still disorientated he was unprepared for the six hunters who assaulted him, he could only kill three of them before his shirt was ripped open and the weapon driven into his body.

The white oak stake penetrated Elijah's chest.

Nine hundred miles away, Katerina screamed.

* * *

Caroline held her shoes in her hand and her pants hitched up to her thighs as she carefully made her way upstream.

Being the daughter of a policewoman, having spent long afternoons as a child in the police station while her mother's deputies had explained basic rules of finding criminals or hiding from the law to keep her interested had given her a knowledge base to build on. So she had guessed that if people were hunting her, there'd likely be roadblocks on all the routes out of town.

But what they wouldn't be expecting would be for her to walk in.

Granted they'd likely have hunters stationed around looking for a blonde girl and they might have even got a photo of her outfit. So that was why she'd ditched her car on the side of the road and decided not to leave any tracks by walking in the shallows of the river that led right to the Quarry.

From there she knew one of the closest houses belonged to Ms Woods who lived in velour tracksuit and always did her washing on Wednesday nights and had to hang her outfits outside on a washing line because she sprayed so much perfume into them that she had to air them out. So if Caroline was lucky- and so far she wasn't dead yet- there should be a tracksuit for her to 'borrow' and change into and then perhaps she could get around town in disguise as a jogger.

She could find her mom, find her friends and figure out what the hell was going on.

But first things first…

"Yes!" she gasped as she saw the familiar black tracksuit with gold threading hanging in the backyard of statues and a hot tub that Alaric Saltzman had once apparently spent four hours in.

Before he and Jenna started dating of course.

Caroline shuddered but eased closer to the fence, keeping an eye and ear out for anyone around her. She could hear a soap opera playing on the television inside the house so she flashed over the fence, grabbed the tracksuit as quickly as she could, her fingers fumbling on the pegs but yanking the clothing down with little trouble. She's back over the fence and hoping Mark Branson, a junior who lives two doors down isn't watching as she ditches her clothes and slithers into the black and gold tacky outfit.

And it even came with a hood.

Wow, her day was getting better and better.

With the hood up to try and cover her blonde hair she began a brisk walk down the street, trying to look like, at best a young girl trying to keep fit and at worst what passed for a criminal in Mystic Falls.

It was such a beautiful, sunny day- even with everything going to hell around her Caroline could see and appreciate the lovely weather but then again Mystic Falls was her home, she had always worked hard to contribute to the town and its surroundings, to make it a better place for everyone.

She wished Klaus was with her.

The thought came so suddenly in her head that she somehow managed to trip for the first time since becoming a vampire.

But it was totally true, she wanted Klaus with her, if he was here he would be confident and calm, marching around and ordering the hunters from 'his' town before confronting whoever had been willing to fork out thousands of dollars for their murder.

She stops at a pedestrian crossing and considers this as her brain finally starts connecting the dots,

No one person in Mystic Falls had thousands of dollars just lying around earmarked for vampire hunting.

For years, the richest families in town had been the Lockwood's and the Salvatore's.

Damon and Stefan clearly weren't behind the attack and surely if Tyler was going to crawl out of the woodwork after so long he'd have sent the hunters to New Orleans?

Individual citizens in her town didn't have those kind of finances but an organisation…

Such as the local government, headed by Rudy Hopkins, the man who had once thrown vervein in the water supply.

Caroline hesitates and looks around her.

She is at the edge of the town centre, she had been hoping to cut through and make it to the police station where her mom would be, or at least deputies who had known her since she was a baby and would help her.

Except she didn't need protection.

She needed to stop whoever was trying to destroy her town.

She takes a deep breath and sets her path for the town hall.


End file.
